Jan. 15, 2017 Know By Jesus - Pastor Josh Sheldon

Well, the Sermon on the Mount, the series that we began actually last July, and we've been preaching exclusively in the afternoon portion of our service, draws to its conclusion today.

It's almost certain that Jesus said quite a lot more than what we have recorded in what was read to you.

It took about 15 minutes to read all that, but it's most likely a quite a bit longer sermon with Matthew under inspiration, by direct inspiration

I should say, of the Holy Spirit gave us the salient points that we need that the church through all times until the

Lord's return needs to know. We have all we need to understand what the

Lord intended for us, and one of the things I've really loved about preaching through these chapters is that sometimes you look at this as a pastor, as a preacher, preparing your text and preparing what you might say and say, why not just read it?

Because what Jesus says seems to be pretty clear. He speaks beginning with blessings, and what he's saying is, blessed are these kingdom heavens, these kingdom of heaven subjects, and blessed are they when they are characterized in these ways.

And he goes through and gives us the ethical teachings about lust, and about anger, and about what it means to actually murder your brother, and these sorts of things.

And it comes through fairly clearly, don't you think? And we could read this ourselves, we could go home and read this, or hear it read as we had every word of it read to you just a moment ago, and it comes through fairly clearly, what the

Lord Jesus Christ means, what he requires of his people. And if I brought anything to this, then

Lord willing, I have set before you, as we've gone through this Sermon on the

Mount, the strength of Jesus' words.

We often hear some of these quotes of the Lord's quoted back to us.

And blessed are these, and blessed are those, and oh, don't judge others and all these things. And we get this sort of, a little bit kind of namsy -pamsy, if I can use that expression, sort of Jesus.

A little bit effeminate, like those medieval pictures we see where he's got his fingers in that configuration, and he's skinny.

I don't think that's the Jesus that spoke these words from the Mount. And Lord willing, if I've added anything to this that you wouldn't maybe get from just reading it yourself, it's that.

He's not saying, oh, blessed are these, and blessed are those. He's saying, blessed are these and none others. And here is the

Kingdom of Heaven, and the way to it. And hopefully,

I've given you some of the severity of what Jesus says against our sin. Speaking of cutting off hands and gouging out eyes that lead us to sin, and it's better for you not to have those than to go ahead and imbibe your own sinful nature.

As I thought about how to bring this to a close, it became apparent to me that the lessons here in the

Sermon on the Mount need to be heard by all of us. And so I do that now, instead of keeping this in the afternoon where the series has been preached, not to exclude anyone from it.

That's just the way we've been doing it, going through Romans in the morning and the Sermon on the Mount in the afternoon. But the summation of this is something

I want us all to hear. I want us to see Jesus as, hopefully, as close as we can to how they saw him back in the first century when he stood on the mountain.

Not in a soft and sort of gentle and all -accepting voice, but in a voice of authority.

The voice proclaiming peace with God, and yet a voice that was stern.

A Jesus who meant what he said and will take no other path. In summation of the message by our

Savior, these verses I chose to bring it all to its conclusion. They drive home the importance of this whole thing.

And here we get the sternness of this message because throughout the Sermon on the

Mount, what has been at stake? And Lord willing, what have I presented to you?

Heaven is at stake. Eternal life hangs in the balance. Jesus is not up there, like I said, this medieval figure saying, oh,

I bless these and I bless those and let the little children come to me. He said all those things and he meant them. But there's a gravity to it that sometimes gets lost.

And we forget because there's so much ethical teaching, there's so much just do it. Do these things. Just do better.

Stop being so bad. It's not like that. We lose sight of the fact with all that in there that Jesus Christ is telling them then and telling us now, the church through all ages, the difference between heading to hell and heaven.

Your eternal soul rests on these words that Jesus Christ, the

Son of God, speaks to us. So we end with the

Lord's final two examples. Those who come to him and say, Lord, Lord, and did we not?

And then the two houses built on the sand, that'll be the second of the examples. And the third thing we'll finish with is simply the reaction of the crowd to him.

Astonished at his teaching. And maybe sadly, it goes on to say because he taught as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

Lord willing, they were astonished at what he said more than the way he said it.

We will come to that. Those who come to him saying,

Lord, Lord, and then the houses built on the different ground, and then the reaction of the crowd, and maybe we look at ourselves and examine ourselves and ask ourselves, what is our response to his teaching?

The point made here by the Lord is one he's been making throughout this sermon. His word is a word to be obeyed.

These are not options, these are not other ways, there's not an alternative that might make you happier than this other one that you might read about in a

Barnes & Noble book or something like that. This is a word to be obeyed. There's no room for a mere intellectual assent to the practical wisdom that he preaches here.

Nor is it to be compared to other theories of life or eternity as if it were merely a choice between systems, and we get the one that suits us.

He gives us a word to be obeyed, and heaven and hell are in the balance here.

The false workers are first. Verses 21 through 23 in chapter 7. What did they do?

They prophesied, they cast out demons, they did mighty works, none of which are specified. It doesn't say what the mighty works were, but we did mighty works,

Lord. These all sound commendable, don't they? Now if we take prophesying at its simplest, and in the manner that it applies to the church today, it's just this, declaring

God's truth by and according to his word, making it true and inapplicable to the circumstances of God's people.

There is today, I believe, demonic activity. Our enemy is alive, he's active, he's malignant.

But he met his end when Jesus Christ said, it is finished, and like a defeated army that hasn't been quite destroyed, he is still very dangerous.

We must be ever vigilant against his wiles. But I believe the actual casting out of demons was a ministry that was unique to those days, as Jesus imploded, as it were, the kingdom of heaven into this kingdom here on earth.

The mighty works, they plead, we don't get a detailed description. We did mighty works in your name, they say.

The context seems to lead us to think that they are impressive people who, by their eloquence, by their showmanship, by many other means, were able to amaze people.

Today we might think of, just one example, Benny Hinn with his Holy Spirit slaying, or whatever that is that they do there, prophesying, casting out demons, mighty works, all seem like things that Christians ought to do.

Shouldn't we? Jesus said, if you believe in me, then by my spirit, and I'm paraphrasing here, mightier works than these you shall do.

And of course, we stand with Jesus as opposed to our enemy, the adversary.

These are all things that it seems like we should do. Mighty works and casting out demons and all the rest of it.

But you see, they can be done in a way that brings only condemnation. Only condemnation.

So what's Jesus say? Well, that's pretty good, and I'm glad for the help you gave me, and if you could just modify your attitude a little bit over here, and, no, what does he say?

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Workers of iniquity would be another way of saying it.

You who bring only sin to the equation, depart, get away.

Imagine standing before Jesus, telling him about the demons you defeated, the prophecies you spoke, all the mighty works you did, and he calls you a worker of lawlessness.

One, not just a sinner, one who promoted and brought sin to the table, too unclean, too sin -stained to be in his presence, like Nadab and Abihu, consigned to the fire of judgment.

It seems that their condemning error is that the claim to have done them in Jesus' name is a false claim.

It seems that it's a false claim. Didn't I do all these things in your name? If it had really been in their name, would he not have accepted them?

It would have been truly in his name. The way we understand what it means to claim the name of Christ, had it been that, would they have been told to get out of his presence?

I think what's happening here is they claim to have done these things in his name, but the use of his name was false.

There was no real faith in him that it would allow them to properly use the name of Jesus Christ, the eternal, beloved

Son of God. He, who never was not, to purport to represent him, but in fact represent yourself, is tantamount to using his name in vain.

It seems in the context that the ones who did the will of the

Father did some of the same things. Not this one who says,

Lord, Lord, but that one who says, Lord, Lord, is what Jesus is saying. Not him, even though they're coming to me with the same words, not that one, this one.

Not this one who prophesied and so forth, but that one, this other one, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

And notice the way he says depart. He says, this other though, this other one shall enter the kingdom.

Notice here, that is not the result of the effort that is in view. It's not the result of the effort as though Jesus is giving one guy an

A plus and another guy extra credit and you're going to get the C minus. That's not what's happening here.

The outcome of good works, of truly good works, done by those described in the

Beatitudes to possessors of the kingdom, the product produced by them is up to God.

The product produced by you, true believer in Jesus Christ, if you be, when you do your good works, who is responsible for the result?

Well, it's God almighty by his spirit working through you. He gets all the glory. He gets all the credit.

He's the one who chooses to work according to his will, through the agency of his spirit, by and through those whose faith is in his son.

The false professors here, they did wonderful things. The language sounds as actually, they actually did what

Jesus says here, did we not? He doesn't say, no, you never did, or that demon didn't quite come out all the way, and that work was pretty good, but not quite mighty.

He doesn't say that. It sounds like they really did the things they claimed to have accomplished. Yet he has no affinity for them.

Their use of his names in their works was false. It was vain. We might even say it was blasphemous.

The ones he sends away are disciples of Simon, the Samaritan sorcerer, who amazed the crowds with his magic.

He held them in his sway, is what Luke records for us in the book of Acts. Many people are vexed.

Some people are actually even terrified by Jesus' words here. If they did all these wonderful things and are sent to perdition, if they did these mighty works, if they cast out demons, if they prophesied, and yet they get condemned, what hope is there for a pedestrian like myself?

I've amazed no one. I've done no mighty work. I've accomplished no miracles. I would die of fright if I ever encountered an actual demon.

What chance do I have if Jesus has sent them away? Do you fear that?

If I'm correct that these ones who come to Jesus and say, look at all these wonderful things we did, and these are the strong, the handsome, the beautiful, the eloquent, the charismatic, who actually did these things, what chance do

I have? I'm just a bumbling fool. I can't get anything done. Sometimes I'm glad at the end of a

Sunday if all I can do is say amen and have some kind of a God -honoring service have preceded that.

I feel like I've accomplished something. What chance do we have?

I think Jesus would say, if that is on your mind here, if you think of that, you think, how do

I measure up? How can I stand before Jesus in light of all these other wonderful people who are going to stand before him?

Surely I have to go to the back of a line. Jesus would say, fear not, little flock, for it is your

Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Our Lord says to you, my Father who has given you to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch you out of the

Father's hand. Listen, at Jesus Christ's command,

Paul says to us, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved, and raised up with him, and has seated us with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

See, we come to the Father in Jesus' name. We stand before him cleansed from our sin, because of what

Jesus did when he shed his blood for his people. And this is what we mean when we so often say that we stand, we come before God, we're accepted in his presence, because we plead the merits of Jesus Christ.

It's all of grace, it's all of faith. The hymn says, Nothing in my hand I bring, only to thy cross

I cling. God willing, this is your plea. If God has granted you faith to repent of your sin, to believe the gospel of his forgiveness, there is no force on earth or in heaven that can undo what

Christ has done for you, and what God by his spirit has applied to you. Paul says,

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. We don't plead our works before God.

God's not going to line us up and grade us, and see if you were as handsome as that other guy, or if you did as might at work as that other person.

Nothing like that. Can you see why the ones who did all these things for Jesus, I did them in your name, can you see now why they're odious to him?

Have you perceived where lies the warning? If I was teaching right now, if I was in a classroom, you all know

I was a substitute teacher, I usually did elementary grades, and if I was there now, and I'd given a lesson like this,

I'd stop. I would slowly scan all the faces of the students, make sure they're really quiet, getting a little nervous because the teacher's just looking, and who's he going to call on?

I'd watch them squirm, especially the ones who drifted off during the lesson. I'd let the terror of hearing their name call out, rest on them for a minute, and I'd say, do you perceive?

Do you sitting here today at Providence Bible Church, do you perceive, do you understand why their fate is what it is?

Why Jesus said, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness, you worker of iniquity, you promoter of sin, get out of my presence.

Do you understand now why he says that? They come to Jesus on the basis of their works.

They're standing before the Lord and saying, Lord, Lord, did we not? They're pleading what?

What is their merit that brings them to the presence? Why do they think they're going to get past Jesus as it were and then go through to heaven?

Why do they think they're going to be allowed to do that? Because of what they did. Because of their own excellencies.

Because of their power. Because of their skill. Because of just the wondrous moi who gave himself to the kingdom of heaven and did these great things that Jesus needed them to do.

They're pleading themselves. Look what I did. Aren't I grand?

What about Jesus? Where's their boasting? Their boasting's in themselves. Paul says he, and so this must be us as well, will boast only in the cross of Jesus.

They have done their own will. They have grasped onto what pleased them.

To what tickled their own ears or met their fancy. And they said, this is my gifting. Here is my ministry.

This is what I'm going to add to the church or to the effort or to this ministry. When what

Jesus calls for has been demanding throughout this Sermon on the Mount is what? Obedience.

Obedience. Simple obedience. As he put it, the kingdom belongs to the one who does the will of my

Father who is in heaven. Just obey. What is that will?

Doing the will of his Father in heaven. It's everywhere in the scripture. The Ten Commandments, all of Leviticus, most of Deuteronomy, preached by the prophet.

What does God require of you but to love mercy, to act justly and to walk humbly with the Lord your God? Paul says

God's will is for our sanctification. Especially that we be sexually moral. God's will is a vast subject.

It's worthy of any and all effort we would put into it. Today, we'll stay just within the confines of this one sermon by Jesus.

There's enough here to occupy us for a lifetime. What's God's will? Remember, Lord, Lord, did we not?

He says get away. But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Beginning just with the

Beatitudes. Lord, make me to be poor in spirit and to know my dependency upon you.

Father, make me to mourn my sin. Blessed are those who mourn. Make me to be one who recognizes and mourns over my sin.

Make me weak, excuse me, not weak, meek as was your Son. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Father, it is your will that I should desire that more than life itself. Make me able to do this,

Father, by your Spirit. That's God's will. Make me merciful to others as you have shown mercy to me.

Make me pure in heart to be undivided in my loyalty to you. Father, take away the violence of my heart and make me as you were to me through Jesus Christ, my

Lord, a peacemaker with others. Willing to stand for Christ in the face of the world's opposition, no matter the cost.

Blessed are the persecuted for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It's God's will that we should be this way.

Read the Beatitudes again, brethren. Do you want to know God's will for you? Blessed are and those eight descriptions, just those eight, a lifetime of work.

Don't go for the big exciting stuff. Don't think you're gonna go to Jesus Christ and plead, Lord, look at the things

I did when he said so simply, so plainly, so clearly, so firmly.

Blessed are. There's God's will. It might not get you a lot of attention.

It should. It might not, but it will please God, our Savior, and that's reward enough right there.

God's will, the metric that determines depart or come is that we repudiate our murderous anger.

Just chapter 5, verses 21 to 26, that true Christian love overcomes our desire for lust.

That's 5, 27 to 30. There's God's will for you. Depart from me, practice of iniquity.

The others come. Those who do the will of my Father in heaven. Your Father in heaven.

Speak plainly. Keep your word. 33 to 37 of chapter 5. Restrain yourself from retaliation.

Verses 38 to 42. Love your enemies as God, while we were still his enemies, reconciled us to himself by the death of his

Son. Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Read that in conjunction with Romans 5 .10.

While you were a God hater, while you sneered at the very thought of God, despite that, he reconciled himself to you by the death of his

Son. What is God's will for you? The difference between depart and come is pretty clear.

It's very plain in this Sermon on the Mount. These things might not seem terribly exciting or dramatic, but there it is.

These are the things that please God. These are the characterizations of those who are kingdom subjects and willing to deny themselves all their own desires, their own agenda, and rather, by faith in Christ, not just doing things because that's going to impress

God and we don't go to Christ and say, Lord, Lord, did I not become more humble in spirit than that guy sitting next to me?

No, that's not it either. It's a picture of what it means to be like Christ. God's will that we should be conformed to that image.

I'm not preaching salvation by works, but works is a proof of salvation. The true believer will not say,

Lord, did I not show many acts of poorness in spirit? Did I not mourn my sin constantly? They will have done this, but what they what we will say is, thank you,

Lord, for your saving grace. Thank you for the cross you bore in my stead. I like the way

D .A. Carson puts it here. It is true, of course, that no man enters heaven because of his obedience, but it is equally true that no man enters the kingdom who is not obedient by grace through faith.

It's all of faith. It's all of God's grace and only by God's grace that any can be saved.

And yet, because that grace, a desire to be the way he would have us to be, to be like his son,

Jesus Christ, put on the faith first, flee to the cross of Christ, seek forgiveness from him and what he has done and rely upon that and that alone.

God's indwelling spirit, which is promised by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, will then lead us to the things that we do as a result of the gratitude we have and desire to be like Christ.

Not many will say to me, or many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not,

God willing, all of us here who hear this word today will come to Jesus and say, Lord, Lord, thank you that you made me able to believe in your name.

And that's it. That's it. The two houses.

Verses 24 to 27. As with the other figures that Jesus uses, the houses look exactly the same.

Remember the wolves in sheep clothing? Well, they're in sheep clothing. They look like you and me. We covered this a while back.

They look exactly the same. And they're both subjected to the same things, to the rain, to the flood, to the wind.

In a word, they're both subjected to the same storms. Nothing is said here about the quality of the materials or the construction.

They're identical in every way. Same blueprint calling for the same materials, all executed and put together with the same diligence.

They're exact duplicates of each other. It's the builders that are different. It's the builders in their spirit that are different from one another.

One wise, the other foolish. The only thing they did different was where they placed the house.

One on the rock, which is Jesus' word, the other on sand, which is what?

Anything else. Any other choice you make, if it's not

Jesus' word, you're just picking among options, you're going to come up on the negative side of this parable that Jesus gives here.

There's Jesus' word, rock. There's anything else, sand. And of course, the one remains standing after the storm, the other collapses.

One's a fool. One's a foolish man. There's nothing funny about fools.

In Luke chapter 12, verse 20, the barn builder is called a fool because of his over -concern with his worldly goods, his total lack of concern for his eternal soul.

The fool of Matthew chapter 7, verse 26 had two choices, the rock that Jesus offers or the sand that the world thinks is solid.

The rock that in fact is solid or the sand that somehow appears to be, but is anything but.

What Jesus is saying is definitely not funny, as funny as fools might possibly be.

I mean, starting back at chapter 7, verse 13, this whole thing, these last examples that Jesus gives, wolves in sheep clothing and so forth, it's been about these eternal consequences that are implicit in his words.

7, chapter 7, verses 13 to 14, the wide path that leads where? To destruction. The narrow path to eternal life.

7, 15 to 20, false prophets meet their end in the flames of judgment. In hell, they're thrown out, they're burned in the flames.

False professors are sent away to eternal damnation. And so we come to the final of Jesus' examples here.

Bringing forth to us the gravity of what he's saying. From beginning to end in this sermon, nothing in here is light words.

The two houses are often characterized as a choice between stability or instability in our lives.

In other words, if you follow Jesus' ethical teaching, if you do the things that he says, things will just go smoother for you.

John Stott puts it this way, the reason you cannot often tell the difference between them, the two people's lives, meaning the truth of their profession, but you can't tell the difference between them is that the deep foundations of their lives are hidden from view.

The real question is not whether they hear Christ's teaching, but whether they do what they hear. Only a storm will reveal the truth.

Sometimes a storm or crisis or calamity betrays what manner of person we are, for true piety is not fully distinguished from its counterfeit till it comes to trial.

So says John Calvin. If not, the storm of judgment will certainly do so.

If the storms of life don't reveal the truth of our profession, the storm of judgment, final judgment, certainly will.

Now I personally believe that the storms of life reveal the truth of our acclaimed faith. 1

Peter chapter 1, verse 6 and 7. James 1, 3.

The seven churches heard from Jesus that when they overcome, when they obey his word, there is a consequent reward.

Ephesus says, The vicissitudes of life, the tribulations, the trials, even the persecutions that test our faith, they do indicate, they do unveil, they uncover how genuine that faith is.

Do we stay to the word? Do we remain on our knees in the face of trial? Do we not deny

Christ? John Stott's last phrase, the storm of judgment will certainly do so, will certainly show the genuineness.

I think that's more what Jesus is driving at here. When I first read this,

I hear about the rain and the wind and the storm hitting those houses. In the context, this is judgment.

This is final judgment. Narrow path, wide path. Life, destruction.

Wolves and sheep's clothing, cut off and sent to the fire. This is judgment.

And Jesus didn't suddenly switch gears and say, well, now all I need you to do is just build your house in a good way and ethically live in a right way.

We do live by good ethics. Scriptural ethics. World view that imbues everything we do.

We do do that. The storm here, I think, is the day of judgment.

Matthew Henry, like John Stott, takes the storm both ways, as life's trials and the great day.

Rains and floods and wind will beat upon the house. The trial is sometimes in this world when tribulation and persecution arise.

However, he says at the end of this paragraph, when death and judgment come, then the storm comes and it will undoubtedly come.

How calm soever things may be with us now. Interpreting the storms to be the storms in this life makes for easier preaching and maybe for easier listening.

It satisfies our need for immediate justice and we can still apply it that way but the storm is the day of judgment.

This has all been about the final day, the great day, standing before the bema, the judgment seat of Christ.

The two houses stand throughout this life. Everything on the outside is the same.

It's only the day of judgment where this final truth is revealed, where this truth is finally revealed.

The occupant of the house on the rock both hears and does, the one who does the will of my

Father in Heaven. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them, saved by grace, but because of grace, doing by grace through faith and only by grace and only through faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, but because of that accomplishing His will. Here is hope.

There's great hope in these verses. He began by saying not everyone, not everyone who says to me, and how does this end?

Everyone. The call is to hear first and then to do something about it.

The danger of self -promotion is avoided by thinking about these chapters holistically. He said not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord, when He gets to these two houses, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man and all the rest of it.

The object of conforming ourselves to the Beatitudes is what? Is to be fit for Heaven.

The only cause to have any works be seen is that they shine a light on God's glory.

Chapter 5 verse 16. Anger towards others abandoned because God abandoned His anger towards us.

Chapter 5 verse 21 -26. Enemies loved rather than hated. The objects of good deeds rather than stark and cold justice because they are more

God's enemies than ours and He hasn't treated us that way. Our charity, our prayers, our personal acts of worship seeking only to bring us closer to Christ's image and make our communion with God warmer and more intimate.

The rain, the floods, the wind, this is God's judgment. The house on the rock stands on that day.

The other is shattered. The one man steps out of his house and walks on solid ground to the arms of the Savior. The other sinks into the mire that had been there all along and now is exposed.

You see, we cannot take Jesus' words here throughout this whole Sermon on the Mount as a theoretical construct as though we can hold them up and compare them to other lifestyles and choose which one suits you because brethren, this will not suit you.

This goes against our nature. Accept that nature be remade by God, by faith in Christ and the working of His Holy Spirit.

Let's finish with our response to these things. The crowds were astonished.

Matthew tells us this was because he taught with authority, not as the scribes. You see,

Jesus didn't reference other commentators as I sometimes do, as I did here just a moment ago.

Everything he said was authoritative because he said it. God only needs to say it once and it's true.

It's eternally true. It's completely true and demands our obedience. Jesus didn't need to quote anyone to support this.

But I think more than that, more than just the way he taught in the whole thing, not as the scribes.

I think it sort of crescendos. It's sort of intensified here at the end. In verse 21 when

Jesus gives this picture, he says, I stumbled.

Let me get it right. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, he's calling himself Lord. He's telling them to call him

Lord. He's telling us to call him Lord. Capital L. Lord, Sovereign, Master, Ruler.

That'd be astonishing. In the same verse, the subject of their petition is entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

What is Jesus saying here? Is this not astonishing? Put yourself in their shoes 2100 or so years ago to hear a man picture himself as Lord who then says heaven or not.

Who grants eternal life or not according to his will. Still in verse 21, he's the deciding factor.

He stands as God. Now we know that he is God, but for them, then, this is astounding.

He decides your eternal destiny based upon your compliance with the will of God as stated authoritatively by him.

And then still in verse 21, he calls God his father. You remember the persecution in John's gospel that he endured because of that.

I believe it was in John chapter 8 when they tried to kill him because he made himself equal with God by calling God his father.

That's just what he did here. Over and over, his demands are supported only with this.

But I say to you, and there's no other choice. Too many people think they'll be able to saunter past Jesus Christ on that day because of their mighty deeds.

Too many people think they're going to be able to say something, and we've all heard this. I've been a good person.

I've obeyed most of the Ten Commandments. Well, I've obeyed most of the Ten Commandments most of the time.

Or some of them most of the time. Well, a few of them sometimes. I did the best

I could, right? I tried really, really hard. Now, get out of my way and stop being so judgmental.

Stop being so intolerant. And they think that that's going to get them past the Lord. What you will then hear, the last thing you will hear before your eternity begins in a different place than what you thought, the last thing you will hear before eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth, if you think that is your plea.

If you think you're going to stand before Jesus Christ and tell him how grand you were even in the smallest, most humble ways that you can imagine putting it to him.

If your plea is anything other than faith in him, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

I plead with you to abandon all self -hope. If the

Lord is stirring you up to be concerned for the state of your eternal soul, if you're seeing that there's only heaven and hell in play here,

I plead with you to make sure that when you plead before Christ, that that plea was made here in this life, now.

Repent of your sins. Put your faith, your trust, your hope in him. In the cross that he bore on your behalf.

So when you stand before him, not Lord, Lord, did I not, Lord, Lord, thank you that by your grace you gave me faith to believe.

You see, there is, and with this I close, there is a mighty deed to trust in.

There is a mighty deed, Lord, Lord, and then the mighty deed, but it's not ours.

It's not yours. Jesus' death for our sin and his resurrection from the dead, there's the mighty deed that we plead.

Faith in this, in the personal work of Christ, this is the rock that supports the house that survives a storm.

There's a hymn that says, only by faith may we enter. Only by faith can we stand. Not by our human endeavor, but by the blood of the lamb.

Well, God won't actually ask us anything. We just put it that way so we understand it. If he did ask, as is so often put, if he did say, why should

I let you into my heaven? If your answer has anything to do with yourself, then your house has been on the sand and you will perish.

But if you answer that Jesus Christ's mighty works have saved you, and God's mighty work of raising him from the dead after his mighty work on the cross where he bore all

God's wrath for your sin, if that's the mighty work that you plead because he did it all, all your hope and trust have been in him, then the rock of that house will support you and you will be transported to eternal life.

That's what the Sermon on the Mount has been about. That's why we've declined to preach it in a simple, make a choice kind of way.

Because Christ's words are firm and they're stern. And there's no other choice to them but these.

I pray God, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that something I've said here has shown you the need to repent of your sin, to seek his forgiveness, and to know that when you stand before him, the mighty work that will get you to heaven has nothing to do with you or anyone else, but Jesus Christ and him alone.