Luke 6:46-49 The Question of all Questions

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Pastor Mike Abendroth, Luke 6:46-49 The Question of all Questions

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Well, we sang a song about Psalm 51.
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We sang a song about Romans 828. We just sang a song about Psalm 23.
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Surely goodness, love and mercy will follow me. Of course Psalm 23 is goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
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And as you know, I've said if I ever get another dog, it has to be two dogs and I'll name them goodness and mercy because they'll follow me wherever I go.
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But in light of that song, I'm not kidding. In light of that song, I guess I need three dogs. Goodness, love and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
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When you need advice on an important matter, you usually go to experts. Something's weighty, something's important.
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It's a big deal. You go to an expert. I mean, if it's advice about what movie to go to or something trivial, any old advice will do.
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But on important matters, expert advice is needed. If you want to buy a new car, it'll cost you a lot of money.
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And so maybe you look at reviews online or consumer reports. Remember those? If you're going to have a simple surgery, no big deal.
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Stay here locally in Worcester. But if it's a big deal, you tend to go to Boston.
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I remember when I needed knee surgery, I thought I might as well look up the
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Celtics team doctor. I think Scott Farrow, when he needed wrist surgery, I said, you should probably look at the
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Boston Bruins team doctor. Let's go find the experts. But what about the most important topic?
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Do you need expert advice on that? And that is, what happens when you die?
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What about sin payment? What about death? What about forgiveness?
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What about eternity? What about the hope of eternal life? Which leads me to my next question.
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What do we need to know? But not only that, who are the experts?
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Are they located in the denominational headquarters? Are they located in the Vatican?
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Who are the experts when it comes to eternal life? Maybe you just follow your heart, because that always leads you the right way, right?
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I'm so glad you laughed. I love you. When it comes to eternal life, we need expert advice that's true and right.
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And so we need to know, what does Jesus say? Jesus who's conquered death, who's paid for sin, what does
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He say about eternal life? And in light of that, please take your Bibles this morning and turn to the
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Gospel of Jesus according to Luke. And we are wrapping up what we call the Sermon on the
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Plain with a proverbial bang, heeding the words of Jesus, listening to the words of Jesus, obeying the words of Jesus, because eternal life is at stake.
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Every person here, every person you know, has been made in the likeness and image of God and have been given an eternal soul.
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And that soul will live forever, either in the presence of God in heaven or in the presence of God in hell, as father in heaven or as judge in hell.
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And so we want to make sure that when it comes to eternal life, we're not following wrong advice.
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We're not caught up in group think. We need to go to the expert of all experts, the Lord Jesus.
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And we'll find that today in Luke chapter 6, verses 46 through 49.
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And I want you to know that the words of Christ Jesus, when you trust Him and trust them, there's protection for you eternally, security for you eternally, provision for you eternally.
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And if you're here today and you're not a Christian and you're ignoring Jesus's words, which in fact you are, there's a terrible doom awaiting you.
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But I have good news this morning. It's not too late to trust Jesus. This morning
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I like to talk about the blessed assurance Christians can have and should have trusting
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Jesus for their eternal life. And then I also want to talk about the horrific destruction for those who ignore
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Jesus's words and do not believe Him. Now, I haven't said it for a few weeks, so I'll say it again today.
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The key to unlocking the gospel of Jesus according to Luke is found back in chapter 1, verse 4.
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I'll just read it for you. Luke is writing to a man named Theophilus, and this is really the purpose of the book of Luke, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
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The Father and the Son and the Spirit want you to know for sure, without a doubt, that what you've learned about Jesus is true.
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And that's why this whole book is written. Twenty -four chapters, as a matter of fact, the longest gospel, because the listener,
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Theophilus, that man, he had some piecemeal knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but he didn't have a comprehensive demonstration of who
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Jesus was. And of course, we've been working through this sermon called the Sermon on the Plain. It starts off in chapter 6, verse 20.
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You remember with those four beatitudes, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. And when people exclude you and revile you, verse 22, for the son of man's account, you can have great blessing and joy.
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He then gives the woes in chapter 6, verse 24, and following, woe, woe, woe, woe, four woes to match the four blessings.
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And then he begins to talk about the attitude that evangelists should have.
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When you go out and preach the gospel, good news, what kind of attitude must you have?
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Is it an attitude of Jonah? We talked about that in Sunday school today, where Jonah wanted the people to go to hell.
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He wanted them to be damned. Of course, the Lord Jesus comes to seek and save the lost. Remember, his first coming is a rescue mission.
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And so those preaching the gospel should have the same tenor and tone and demeanor that the
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Lord Jesus had the first time he comes, he came. Of course, the second time he comes, it's going to be judgment.
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It's going to be Revelation chapter 19, where he's coming back to damn. But evangelists should have attitudes like Jesus and the
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Father and the Spirit. And that should be, as we see in verses 35 and 36, a merciful attitude.
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Be merciful, even as your father is merciful. It doesn't do us any good when we're out preaching the gospel to people to be less than kind, less than merciful.
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We want them to be saved. And it ends in verses 43 through 45 about trees and fruit and good fruit and bad fruit.
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And it's a good idea for us to reflect a little bit. We talked about it last week. What kind of fruit am I producing?
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If I'm not producing right fruit, I ought to be repentant. So we come to our passage today, chapter 6, verses 46 through 49.
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Let me ask you for our outline today, four important simple questions where expert advice is needed on eternal life.
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Four questions about eternal life based on this passage and the expert, the
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Lord Jesus. Let me read the passage first, and then we'll look at the four questions.
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Luke 6, 46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord? Of course, it's Jesus talking. And not do what
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I tell you. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them,
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I will show you what he is like. He's like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
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And when the flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built.
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But verse 49, the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
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When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great.
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Now with me, please, if you would. Father in heaven, as we come to these not only encouraging words for some, but sobering for others, would you help each person here ask the question, am
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I going to heaven when I die? Are Jesus's words true? Father, thank you that you will use this passage to not only encourage
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Christians, but also to have the fear of the Lord dwell in the hearts of every unbeliever here.
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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Four questions where we need expert advice when it comes to eternal life.
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Question number one, what if this is the last question you'll ever hear?
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What if this is the last question you'll ever hear? That's found in verse 46. What's the question? Can you imagine this being the last question you ever hear on judgment day?
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Why do you call me Lord, Lord? That's with emphasis and not do what I tell you. I mean, maybe it's the question of all questions, but I want you to just think a little bit.
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There's an end to your life. There's real judgment. And what if this was the last question you'd ever hear?
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Why do you call me Lord, Lord? You don't do what I tell you. I mean, sin is real.
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Judgment is real. Death is a fact. Eternity is a long, long time. And often in scripture you'll see this two paths, two ways, two directions, two destinies.
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And it stems from Old Testament as well. Deuteronomy 32, Moses had finished speaking all these words to Israel.
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He said to them, take to your heart all the words with which I'm warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of the law.
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Very interesting. Moses said, for it is not an idle word for you. Indeed, it is your life.
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And for Moses it was, if you don't keep these words, you're not making it into the promised land.
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Now when Jesus asked these words, we're not talking about temporal land in Israel. We're talking about eternal life.
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This is very, very important. Now, like a good preacher, of course
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Jesus is the prince of preachers. At the very end of his sermon, he calls for action.
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He calls for a response. If you've taken any kind of teaching class or preaching class, you'll always see those two words kind of written in your note, or you should write them in your notes.
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So what? Jesus has been teaching the sermon on the plane. He's pouring his heart out. He's teaching his disciples.
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He's teaching other people. And now here comes the so what? It's a call to action. It's a call to respond.
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You can't just take Jesus' words and say, whatever. He's just talking. No, this is
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God talking. And so he has some personal application at the end of the sermon.
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Matthew's account ends this way. Jesus said, 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.
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On that day, many will say to me, what? Just like in Luke, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, do many mighty works in your name?
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And then I, Jesus, will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of what?
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Lawlessness. Can you imagine hearing those words? You don't want to hear those words. And of course, in God's mercy and kindness, he warns.
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It's a savior who warns, don't let these be the last words you ever hear. And it's a good warning for unbelievers.
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And just put yourself, if you're a Christian, back in the day when you were an unbeliever and you thought what?
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You thought, well, my sin's not as bad. God isn't that holy. Things will work out on a bell curve.
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I've been good. I've been kind. I try to do nice things. I've been baptized. I'm not as bad as all the other people on TV.
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And it is God's goodness and kindness where he says now, Jesus says to you if you're an unbeliever, be careful.
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That's not the right way to think. You have to have a warning. And the warning is eternal life lasts forever and you don't want to die in your sins.
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Just with a lip service, Lord, Lord, we're just calling you Lord but we don't really believe you. I love what
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Paul says. Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?
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In other words, if you're an unbeliever, you think, well, God's patient toward me and I'm living okay for now and I'm not in hell yet and I've got time.
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Do you know what that really is from God's perspective when he's being patient towards you and forbearing toward you?
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The text goes on to say, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.
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It's God's goodness and his kindness towards you even as an unbeliever that's supposed to not prevent you but to draw you to him.
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It's his kindness. And so if you're an unbeliever here today, I need to remind you because we've all needed reminding when we were unbelievers that you from Romans chapter 3 are not righteous.
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You don't seek after God. You've turned aside and you've become worthless and you've not done any good.
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No, not even you. And so if that's the prescription, that's the diagnosis rather for every unbeliever, that should make us look up and say, is there mercy?
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Is there kindness to be found? Can I have grace? Can I have forgiveness? Remember the tax collector standing far off, not even being able to look up to heaven.
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God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's what every unbeliever should be crying out. Not like the rich young ruler who said,
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I've kept all the commandments. So question number one is, it's a warning and it's this, you don't ever want to be asked this question.
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Question two, this is pretty self -evident, but I'm going to, I wanted four questions today.
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No, just kidding. Who's asking the question? The first one is a question you never want to hear.
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The second one is I want you to know who's asking the question because that's important. It's been part of my message so far, but I want to make it explicit.
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Look at verse 46 at the end. What I tell you. Verse 47, hears my words.
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Verse 49, but the one who hears, this is the Lord Jesus talking.
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I studied this week a little bit about how often people talk and how many words they talk.
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Do you know the average person talks 16 ,000 words a day. And if you put all their talking together, it's an hour and 54 minutes of talking.
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941 words per hour talking. And a lot of the talk from people, myself included, is just inane, ridiculous, doesn't matter, trivial.
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But when Jesus talks, we ought to be listening. Jesus is the one that Hebrews chapter one describes as the one who created the universe, who upholds the universe, who makes purification for sins, who sets down.
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This is not just anyone talking, but the Lord. And He's not just, may I say, running His mouth, talking just to talk.
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You've all met people who talk just because they want to talk. This is the Lord Jesus.
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The words of life, the words of warning, true words. Now, every pastor when he preaches, every preacher when he preaches, he likes it when people listen.
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And I want you to know that when you see my eyes and you can see my face, I can see yours.
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And so when you're sleeping, I know. People always think, oh, you know, if I'm sitting in the back, he can't see me.
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It's sad if a pastor is really preaching the word and the people don't listen. But can you imagine the
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Lord Jesus preaching a sermon and the people like, I don't care. These are the words of Jesus.
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Who is He? What is He teaching? Now, if you read
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Luke chapters one through six, again, you would find out this is the
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Savior that's going to be born. He's a Savior. You're going to find out that He's the Lord of the
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Sabbath. You're going to find out and you're going to be reminded that He can forgive sins with a word.
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You'll be reminded that He can heal. You'll be reminded that this Jesus is the expected one, the rescuer of Israel.
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And Simeon holds that little baby in his hand and recognizes it, Jesus the Lord. So you remember
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Luke one, two, three, four, five, and six. This is not just some prophet who's speaking. This is the eternal
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Son speaking. And by the way, who talks like this if they're not
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God? Who says, by the way, if you don't do what I say and listen to my words and no one else's words, you're going to hell.
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And might I remind you that the only person that should ever talk this way is the God man. Here's Jesus demonstrating
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His Lordship. What Jewish teacher, what Gentile teacher would ever say, I have authority, that these are my words?
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The rabbis would say, well, so and so said this, or Moses said that, or the rabbis said that. Here Jesus, not quoting anyone, these are the words from Jesus Himself.
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What a claim to deity. And He says, my words.
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And if you looked at the parallel account in Matthew 7, it says, everyone then who hears these words of mine, with my placed up front, in other words, make sure you pay attention to Jesus' words.
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And of course, this means that you probably should know the words of Jesus. Some people know computer languages better than Jesus' words.
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Some people know cookbooks better than Jesus' words. Some people know video games better than Jesus' words.
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The latest fashion and sports scores and batting averages. We're expected to know
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Jesus' words. And by the way, we have how many Bibles in our lives now? In the old days, if I would look over the coat rack and there was a bunch of Bibles there, sometimes you'd forget your
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Bible and then I'd walk up to you the next Sunday and I'd say, how's your Bible reading going this week, knowing that you left your
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Bible here? Now I can't say that because you're going to have access to the Bible in how many different ways. We have the words of life.
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We have Jesus' words. And He, Jesus, is expecting us to know His words. Not the
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Pharisees, not the Sadducees, not the scribes, not the hypocrites, not people on TV. Jesus' words.
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It's Jesus who's talking. It's Jesus, remember, who was commended by the Father. And will be commended when it comes to not just His baptism, this is my beloved
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Son in whom I'm well pleased, but the transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
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At the resurrection, essentially God the Father saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. It's this
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Jesus, the Father wants you to listen to this Jesus. In a day and age where people say the most asinine statements like, that's my truth.
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This is my truth and not your truth. No, sorry friend, there's only one truth and even when it comes to the
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Lord Jesus, I'm the way, what's the next one? The truth. One man said, you know, the religion of today is
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Sheila -ism. Because this sociologist went to this lady named Sheila and she said,
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I'll take a few of Joseph Smith's words, I'll take a few of Buddha's words, I'll take a few of Confucius' words.
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Confucius is hard to say. I'll take a few words of this, that and the other and I'll put them all together and that's what
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I believe. And he said, that's Sheila -ism because it's just what Sheila believes. No, these are the words of Jesus.
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Why do you think we try to preach every single week? These are Jesus' words. Not truth found within, not mysticism, not truth found in a multitude of religions and pluralism.
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No, it's Jesus and Jesus alone. Building your life on the words of Jesus.
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Question three, what's the latter end of all who hear
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Jesus' words and do them? There's a question you don't want to hear. We have to remember who's asking the question and then what's the latter end of all those who hear
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Jesus' words and do them? Found in verses 47 and 48. Now, lots of times we'll read this section and we'll think it's only negative.
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It's only a challenge. How can you be a professor and not a possessor? And that's true.
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46, verse 46, it's from the negative angle. You call me Lord but you don't do what I tell you.
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And there's going to be negative aspect coming up in the next verses after this but I don't want you to forget that if you build your life on the words of Jesus by faith and faith alone, you're safe.
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You're going to make it. This is not only a so what at the very end of a sermon to make everybody feel like they're an unbeliever.
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This is to give assurance to the believer and then a wake up call for the unbeliever.
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So this is a positive thing. What's the latter end of all those who hear Jesus' words and do them?
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Let's take a look. Verses 47, 48. Everyone who comes to me, Jesus said, hears my words and does them.
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I'll show you what he's like. Of course, back in those days in the Middle East, flash floods, crazy stuff going on.
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Easily you could be swept away but here's like a man building a house. And then he uses two words to talk about how in -depth this digging and putting a foundation is.
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Dug deep, laid the foundation on the rock. Floods rose, stream broke against the house and it couldn't shake it because it had been well built.
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You're probably more familiar with the account in Matthew. The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, slammed against that house and it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.
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Makes me think about sitting around the kitchen table with my kids and the wise man built his house upon the what?
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Right? And the rain came. I don't know the rest but you know what I'm saying. I would remember it if I wasn't in front of 250 people.
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You ever try to spell in front of people? All of a sudden you just can't remember how to spell. Trouble's going to come in life and it'll be a great revealer.
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And or trouble's going to come at the very end and it'll be a great revealer. For the people that hear
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Jesus' words, they realize He's the Son of God incarnate. He's the eternal Son of God sent by the
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Father. He realizes or she realizes when I'm trusting in the words of Jesus, I'm going to be safe.
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Trouble's coming. Judgment day's coming. Can you imagine what judgment day must be like?
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Standing in the presence of a thrice holy God where Isaiah, remember Isaiah's in front of God and he's not a terrorist.
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He's not a rapist. He's not a murderer. He's the prophet of God and when he talks, God speaks.
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And when Isaiah in chapter 6 of Isaiah, he's in front of God and what happens? He says, woe is me.
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I'm undone. God is so holy. He's heard holy, holy, holy. He realizes his own sin.
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And he asks really essentially to go to hell and to be damned. And then all of a sudden there's that angel coming with the coal and what do you think
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Isaiah thought was going to happen? We know the story but he didn't. He thought it was going to be prayer request answered.
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Woe is me. Cursed is me. And here comes his judgment. Yet the
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God who's so holy and sinless angels blush when they're in the presence of God.
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He's also kind and gracious and instead of having the angel come like a death angel, he comes and just cauterizes the lips of Isaiah and gives him atonement.
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If we didn't have such a Jesus to give us atonement, where would we be?
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But since we have him, where will we be? Now, it is very, very, very important that you don't read this passage and say,
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I get to heaven by doing Jesus' words, i .e. works. Is it true that you do works to get to heaven?
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And if Jesus said, be this kind of evangelist and have this kind of fruit and pray this way, whatever
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Jesus says, love God, love neighbor, that if you do those words of Jesus, you get to heaven.
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I hope no one here thinks that if you do good works, you get to heaven. That undoes everything about Jesus.
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Why even send Jesus if you can get to heaven by being good? Why would the Father in some kind of weird way punish the
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Son when Jesus just needed to show up and be a good example or say some good things as a good educator?
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Is Jesus saying, obeying me leads to salvation? Seems when I just kind of look at it, could that be the case?
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If he is saying that, here's your only hope of heaven, dear Christian, that you perfectly obey
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God, that you entirely obey God, what's the third one? That you exactly obey
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God and you perpetually obey God. God does not lower down the law. I've got good intentions.
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No, no. The way to get to heaven is perfect obedience. So if that's the case, doesn't seem like good news at all.
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Take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 5. I think it will help us to look at another gospel account and to remind you that when
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Jesus is saying, I want you to do my words, you come to me, you hear my words and you do them, you're safe.
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What does that mean? What? If somebody asks you that question, I want to be safe and secure.
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I want to have my sins forgiven. I'm coming to Jesus. I hear what he says, but I don't really do his words like I want to.
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I wonder what you'd say. Well, of course, we know that God wrote the Bible. There's no contradictions in the
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Bible. And it helps us if we look at clear passages to interpret some passages that maybe have questions in our minds.
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And that's what John chapter 5 does. John 5, 24. I know you know the passage, but I want to remind you again, truly, truly.
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That means pay attention. Amen. Amen. I say to you, whoever hears my word, sound familiar?
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My word. What do you think the next line is? And believes him who sent me has eternal life.
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He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. Jesus wants you to believe him.
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That's what doing the words of Jesus in context of Luke 6 is. Let's go down to verse 28 of the next chapter.
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It's the same thing. Do you want to know what the will of God is? It's to believe Jesus. Do you want to know what the main work of God is for you?
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It's to believe in Jesus. John 6, 28. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God?
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Isn't that interesting? Do doing works. What are the, what do we do? What should we be doing? And what are the works?
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Jesus answered them. This is the work of God. Don't miss this.
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Underline it. Be reminded of this, that you keep the commandments with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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Is that what the text says? Aren't you glad it doesn't say that? I'm glad. This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he has sent.
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Down to verse 35 of the same chapter. Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever keeps my commandments and loves
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God and loves neighbor and loves enemies will never thirst. Praise the
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Lord. No, but whoever believes in me shall never thirst. You want to know what
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God's will is for your life? It's to believe Jesus. If you're an unbeliever, to believe
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Jesus. And if you're a believer, to keep believing in Jesus. Listen to first John three and this is his commandment.
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Are you ready? That we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ and love one another.
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That's the order. What's the commandment of God? Believe Jesus and then have fruit and evidences of good works because he's a good dad.
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Don't you love to hear kids in service? I just love that. When you're first a pastor, any kind of noise messes you up.
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God was very gracious to me because there are no cell phones in 1997 here. So I appreciate that.
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Somebody's phone went off this morning. It was rehearsing Psalm 51. I didn't really mind that because once I heard somebody's ringtone here, true story, it was a
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Kenny Loggins song. I think you should be fired for that. How firm a foundation ye saints of the
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Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he has said, you who unto
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Jesus for refuge have fled. Jesus the rock, trusting in Jesus.
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Matter of fact, you can go ahead to John chapter six verse 35. Oh no, I read verse 35, verse 40.
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For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I'll raise him up on that last day.
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Verse 47 of John six, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
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Chapter seven, verse 38 of John, whoever believes in me. John chapter eight, verse 24, unless you believe that I am he, you'll die in your sins.
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And then of course that glorious passage in John 11 with Lazarus. Jesus said to her in verse 25,
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I'm the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die yet shall he live.
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Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
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So if you're a Christian, that means you're trusting in Jesus. Will there be fruits and evidences in your life of good works?
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Of course, but those evidences and fruits don't get you to heaven. You're saved by Jesus's works alone.
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And then you just trust those works for you because Jesus said, if you believe in me, you get eternal life.
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So when Jesus says, if you hear my words and you do them, you built your house on a foundation.
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I don't want you to think I have to do more works to get saved, to stay saved. No, we know better than that.
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We do works because we, out of gratitude, want to obey God and be holy. Heidelberg Catechism, what's your only comfort in life and death?
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What would you say if you visited somebody on their deathbed? A Christian. I, with body and soul, both in life and death,
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I'm not my own, but belong to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied all my sins, redeem me from the power of the devil, and so preserves me that without the will of my father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head.
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Indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by his
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Holy Spirit, he assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.
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You, Christian, can say with confidence, the son of God, Galatians 2 .20, loved me and gave his life for me.
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There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Thomas Brooks said, now when any fears or darkness or doubts or disputes arise in your souls about your spiritual state, oh, then run to Christ in the promise, his words, plead the promise, let your souls cleave close to the promise.
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What does Jesus promise? If you trust in him, you go to heaven, eternal life. And you say, that's too good to be true.
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Almost, but it is true. Spurgeon was the great
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Baptist preacher in England. He said, as soon as a repenting sinner is justified, remember he's justified for all his sins.
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He's not guilty. Pardoned at once he receives. Sins cast into the depth of the sea.
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What you say, do you mean that literally? Yes, I do. That is the doctrine of justification by faith.
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Back to Luke chapter six for our final question. There's a question you don't want to hear.
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Jesus is the one asking the question. For all those who are trusting in Christ Jesus, his promises, safe and secure.
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You've made it. You're going to make it. You've built your house on the right foundation, the words of Jesus. And now the sad, tragic, all too often, latter end for unbelievers.
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Question four, what is the latter end of all who do not hear Jesus's words and obey them?
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What's the latter end for them? Verse 49, Luke six, but the one who hears and does not do them.
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It's like a man who built a house, same activity as a believer on the ground without a foundation.
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When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. And what an understatement.
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And the ruin of that house was great. What is the end of people who hear
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Jesus's words and say, I will not believe him. I refuse to believe in him because that's going to have consequences about my sin, my lifestyle, living with my girlfriend, looking at this, that, the other.
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I just can't process that. I don't want to do that. What's the latter end. And I want to remind everyone here, even if you're an unbeliever, this is
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God's kindness and his mercy to warn you, to say, stop, you're going off the cliff.
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When my grandfather was in the hospital, I thought he was going to die. He lived a few years after that, but I had
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Kim take grandma out of the room to go to the cafeteria because I knew grandma was not going to like what
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I was going to say. And so I went up to grandpa and I said, I just, I mean, I could just see it right now.
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I love you, my favorite grandpa. All these things I said to him and I said, grandpa, if there's a person who's got a blindfold on and they're running off a cliff, it's love and loving to tackle them so they don't go off the cliff.
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And so grandpa, I'm probably going to take the wind out of your sails now and tackle you as it were, but you're going to die soon.
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And because you think you've been baptized as a Lutheran baby and ignored God for the rest of your life, you think you're going to go to heaven.
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You're not going to go to heaven. You're going to go to hell. Did I do that because I was mean?
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Did I do that because I hated grandpa? No, out of kindness and mercy, that was hard to say.
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And then of course, grandma comes back screaming at the top of her lungs, nurse, nurse, because she did not know or she did know what
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I was saying and she did not like it. I want you to be reminded that when you evangelize someone, dear
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Christian, it's out of kindness and goodness because God's merciful. You want to be merciful. This carries right through what
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Jesus has talked about. He's doing now. It is a warning. And I'm warning you, if you're a child here today, if you're an adult, if you're a member, if you're a visitor, if you're not trusting in Christ Jesus, your doom is great.
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We talked about hell a few weeks ago. Where are you going to learn about judgment, doom, hell, and condemnation if it's not here, if it's not there with Christians?
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Say, well, that doesn't fill churches. That's true, but it fills hell. That's true, but it fills hell.
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I mean, you can just get the language here that Jesus is talking about. You're just living your life as an unbeliever. Everything seems to be fine.
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You get grace, gracious things from God, merciful things from God, and you get a spouse, and you get taste buzz, you get to listen to music, you get to just live in your life.
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And all of a sudden, here comes the flood. You can watch it on TV. It's almost like in Petra, where you have these gorges and the flood comes and it just wipes people out.
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Eternal doom. It's not just like a little water damage on your foundation that you call up the plumber, he fixes it.
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No, this is destruction. The power of water. How much more? The holiness of God. And so, if you're here and you're an unbeliever, we're telling you this because we love you.
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It's what Jesus said. He's the God -man, and He's telling you, unless you believe in Him, there's doom for you.
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And some people, they say they're a Christian, Lord, Lord, and they never do what Jesus says.
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What a tragic thing false assurance is. It's wrong if pastors try to take away assurance from Christians, because Christians have assurance.
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There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Jesus has you. No one can be able to snatch you out of the Father's hand.
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But it's also wrong to say, you know what, there are some people that just are all lip service and they have to be challenged.
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Satan is a liar and a deceiver. And the biggest lie in the entire world is, you're going to make it on judgment day by just having lip service of Jesus.
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It was John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress who said, at the gates of heaven, there's like a trap door to hell.
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Because when you die and you say, Lord, Lord, and you're just a professor, and you didn't really trust the knowledge, the promises of Jesus, you lived your own life, you think you're going to go to heaven, and there you go to hell.
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When I think about the end, right, I'm in my mom's room, she's dying, morphine drip, pain, gray face, etc.
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Can you imagine the moment, the moment that she dies, she exhales her final breath, and instead of sweaty morphine, horrible backache, cancer everywhere, you wake up and you're in heaven.
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I mean, what must that be like? I mean, how many awesome things has ever happened in your life?
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I mean, I guess, Niagara, you go, awesome. Grand Canyon, awesome. Watch your babies born, awesome.
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We don't have any awesome things in life. But the difference between deathbed and heaven for the
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Christian, can you imagine how that is just the most wonderful thing?
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But on the flip side, it's true. Say, what about the person who's enjoying the things of life? They're on their deathbed, and they think the way
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I get to heaven is just die, to be good, to be baptized, to not do too many bad things.
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If they thought deathbeds were bad, isn't it kindness to say, warning, believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ, run, repent from that thinking. George Gallup had a poll, and he said, we find very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously.
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The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkably similar in both groups. Eight out of ten
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Americans consider themselves Christians, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the
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Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments, and two in ten said they'd be willing to suffer for their faith.
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There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of what?
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It's the goodness of God to warn you. If you have unbelieving friends and family members, dear Christian, you're not being mean.
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At least I hope you're not delivering it in a mean way, in a judgmental way. It's kindness and goodness. There's an old spiritual, and it says, everybody talking about heaven ain't going there.
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Jesus' half -brother would ask it this way, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
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Can that faith save him? It's not that works save us, but works show evidence, shows fruit.
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That's what that is. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
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Warning, but Paul goes on to say, by the way, in a cesspool of sin, a city named
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Corinth, God does his great transforming work. And then he says, but you're washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the
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Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If you're an unbeliever here, you say, well, I talk a lot. There's nothing to back it up.
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I'm not really a believer. I just want you to know, how'd you like to be washed? How'd you like to have a right relationship with the
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Lord? How'd you like to be sanctified? How'd you like to be justified? How'd you like to have the hope of heaven, Jesus bearing your sins?
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The answer is, it's yours. I offer it to you freely. You say, what do I have to do to get that?
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Well, if you could do something, God would command you to do it. But since you're a slave to sin, blinded spiritually,
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God has a free offer. And he says, just believe my son, believe in me, trust in me.
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A very, very popular poem, but a haunting poem. Jesus said, you call me the way and walk me not.
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You call me the life and live me not. You call me master and obey me not. If I condemn thee, blame me not.
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You call me bread and eat me not. You call me the truth and believe me not. You call me Lord and serve me not.
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If I condemn thee, blame me not. Just how devilish and how common and how routine is,
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I profess Jesus, but I don't possess him by faith. 600 years before Jesus, a man named
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Ezekiel wrote this. And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say, but they will not do it.
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For with lustful talk in their mouths they act, their heart is set on their gain. You don't want to be that, do you?
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You think, is there mercy for me? Is there grace for me? I'm 30, I'm 40, I'm 50. I've lived my whole life not believing
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Jesus's words. Today's the day, because it's grace that saves. There's some people in prison, rough people.
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And Paul the apostle said, you want to get to heaven? Here's what you have to do. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.
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Jesus, the great preacher, has application at the end. And the application is twofold, because there's two ways.
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For those who trust in Christ Jesus and believe in him, because that's the will of the Father. Faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone, for God's glory alone.
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You're safe. The trouble is going to come, COVID pneumonia is going to come, cancer is going to come, death of a loved one is going to come, all kinds of trials on earth, it's going to come.
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And you're safe. And haven't you seen that in your life, dear Christian? Maybe you didn't obey as much as you wanted.
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Maybe there was some worry there and some fear there. But you look back and you think, God has been faithful and his promises are true.
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And the foundation was on Jesus's words, not on my faithfulness, not on my righteousness. Thankfully, because in my trial,
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I wasn't that righteous. I wasn't that faithful. But God, your faithfulness is there. I see your hand. I see it in my life.
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You see it in yours. That's part of the sermon, because he's preaching to believers as well.
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The other part of the sermon is, if you're here today and you're not a
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Christian, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. And if you don't believe the
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Lord Jesus, this is not just hellfire and brimstone for no reason. You're going to straight to hell when you die.
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Straight to hell. And you deserve to go. I offer you today forgiveness found in Christ Jesus, because God has been kind to you, hasn't he?
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He's been good to you, hasn't he? You can see his handiwork in nature, haven't you?
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And so I offer you today the words of eternal life. You don't even have to do anything. You just have to trust in the
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Lord Jesus. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Bow with me, please.
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Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I'm thankful as I look at my life. It's only by grace that we believe.
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What joy it gives for every Christian to know that we're going to be saved.
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That you, by the Holy Spirit, have helped us confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord. And we believe in our heart that God, you raised him from the dead.
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We're going to be saved. Thank you for that. And Father, as Christians, we want to build our life on Christ, the solid rock.
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On Christ's blood and righteousness. And obey him now as children to please him.
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Father, for those that are here, that are on the fence, that are unbelievers, atheists, agnostics, whatever they call them.