"True Disciples" | Matthew 7:13-38 | Pastor Keith

When the series parables of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

please open your Bibles. Matthew Chapter 7, it's actually

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

continuing. It's still the Sermon on the

Mount starts in Matthew 5, but it continues and we're still in

the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to pick it up from

verse 13 of Matthew Chapter 7 verse 13 says enter by the

Matthew 7:13

narrow gate for why does the gate broad is the way that leads

to destruction. There are many who go by it

because narrow is the gate. Notice this please will you?

If you think Christianity is difficult, it is Jesus said so

difficult is the way which leads to life.

You ever heard life not meant to be easy?

Bible says that and there are few who find it tonight.

You found it then he says beware of false prophets who come to

you in sheep's clothing. Inwardly they are ravenous

wolves. You'll know them by their

fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn

bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears

good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

That's how you tell what sort of belief and whether they are they

are false or true. A good tree cannot bear bad

fruit, nor can a bad tree, a cult, bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, thrown

into the fire. Therefore now he said all this

every time you see you, therefore you ask what's it?

Therefore, based on what I've just said, Jesus says, therefore

by their fruits you'll know them.

You can tell if someone's a Christian by their fruits.

Now then he adds more detail. So we're seeing Jesus giving us

wisdom about and and remember he'd been preaching about the on

the Sermon on the Mount about the Pharisees.

Oh, I know we we give, we tithe, you know, you know, we do all

the right things and Jesus, no, no, it's it's not about what you

do action outside just that the thoughts of your heart, the

attitudes of your heart. They tell us who you really are.

And now Jesus adds some more. He says not everyone who says to

me, Lord, Lord, and notice this is the most, I think scariest

verse in the Bible. Not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.

You say Jesus is Lord doesn't necessarily mean you're going to

go to heaven, but he and now here is the one who is going to

go to heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, day of judgement, Lord, Lord,

have we not prophesied in your name cast out demons in your

name done many wonders in your name and then Jesus says I will

declare to them I never knew you depart from me.

You who practise lawlessness. Verse 24.

Therefore, here's another. Therefore, what's it there for,

based on what I've just said? Therefore, back on what I've

just said, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I

will liken him to a wise man who build his house on the rock.

And the rain descended. That's when things get

difficult. The floods came, the winds blew

beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on

the rock. Yeah, he's going to do a

comparison. But everyone who hears so they

hear these sayings of mine, what's the difference?

And does not do them. Will be like what a foolish man

who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, floods came,

all the problems of life difficulties, the winds blew

beat on that house. What was the difference?

His life fell apart. It fell, and great was its

fault. So it was when Jesus head into

these sayings that the people were astonished at His teaching,

for He taught them as one having authority and not as the

scribes. During the Sermon on the Mount

Jesus said, man it has been said and because the Pharisees never

quoted themselves, they would say Pharisee halal says this and

they quote But Jesus said it has been said, but I say unto you,

he was saying, Now listen to what I say.

In the closing paragraph of Jesus Sermon on the Mount,

Christ pictures two men each building their family home or

their lives. One man worked feverishly to

build his house and does not think about a solid foundation.

Up it goes to withstand future storms, floods, and winds.

Jesus calls. Jesus calls this man, verse 26,

the foolish man. There is another man.

He too is building his home, building his life.

He's called the wise man verse 24.

So the story is simple. The parable is simple.

Two men building their homes. 1 is wise, the other is foolish.

So what's the difference? But the story, though simple, is

a very real powerful and dramatic commentary on people

who know Jesus words and either do them.

That's the difference, or don't do them.

But the result between those people is worlds, and as Jesus

says, Lord, Lord shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Eternities apart. You could say the difference

between heaven and hell. In verses 13 to 14 we saw that

Jesus began the close to his sermon and he did so with an

invitation and by the narrow gate.

For why does the gate brought? It is the way that leads to

destruction. There are many who go in by it

verse 14 because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way

which leads to life and there are a few who find it.

We should say each time someone says I'd like to become a

Christian, we should we should lay out the warnings.

Guess what, everyone's going to get hard now instead of what

what do what do well meaning Oh, it's just going to be so

wonderful. You know, Jesus is going to come

here and you're going to walk on a bit of roses and they go home.

First thing that happens, there's division in the family.

They're called an idiot and what's, what have you done?

You go crazy and they go, oh, I, I went to church and I told her

and I reckon I'm, I've gone mad. They just treat me looking so

different. When you become a Christian,

when you become a follower of Christ, the world hates you.

There's a change. If you truly are born again, all

of a sudden you're not welcome to enter the narrow gate onto

the narrow way that leads to life.

Jesus told us it would not be easy for two basic reasons.

False prophets would deceive many.

Oh no, you don't have to worry about that.

Hey, Jesus loves you. You know it's all good.

No, just carry on and they would send you on the Broadway.

Many people will falsely profess Christ and deceive themselves.

Jesus said there would be people who verbally profess to belong

to the Kingdom of God but won't do what Jesus said.

The reality is, Jesus said that they are not true Christians.

We could say the first group deceived by false prophets have

empty words. Paul warned us in in the last

days. Perilous times would come.

People would reject the truth and they would drift after those

who would scratch them behind their ears.

That feels. I felt so good.

Remember, coming to church is not about feeling good.

You know, if you went to hospital, I've come to the

hospital, I've come to the surgeon because I just want to

feel good. Well, let me just get this big

needle and like go to the dentist.

It's not like I've come to the dentist because I just want to

really feel good. You know, I feel happy.

No, it's to get something fixed. The second group, they're worse.

They're not deceived by prophets.

They're deceived by themselves. And they have all the words, but

they have empty hearts. Again, in verses 24 to 27, Jesus

reminds us again of God's standard of righteousness.

What is that? The Sermon on the Mount says?

God's standard of righteousness to get into heaven is what you

know, what perfection you go, Well, no one can get into

heaven, correct? You need Christ's righteousness

upon your life for you to get into heaven.

That's what the cross is about. He exchanged, he took our sin

upon himself, remember, and he put his righteousness upon you.

So when God the Father looks upon you, he sees you are

covered by the blood of Christ, which as we take communion for

the remission of what all our sins, unless your life is built

on God's standard, you won't last stones and you know world,

the world's going to get worse. I read today, just tonight in

the South China Sea where many of our Australian Navy people

say if there's going to be a war, Australia will go to war

with China. That's what our own sailors are

saying. Because they're they're armed,

they're not just having toy bullets, blanks, they are

actually armed sailing in the South China Sea.

But right at this moment, the US, I can't remember the name of

the aircraft carriage, just lost my mind, part of my mind.

They and some other vessels are in the South China Sea too, and

it says the American ships are there and the Chinese ships

aren't moving. Watch this space.

Unless your life is built on God's standard, you won't last

storms and your life will be washed away by the flood, as was

the billions who heard Noah's preaching 120 years of it but

refused to repent and turn to God.

Because the only way you come into the Kingdom of God is to

repent of your sins, call on God and ask Him to forgive you and

then receive the forgiveness of Christ.

And not carefully. Jesus says it does not matter

how much you know. Yeah, I've come across people

who actually study the Bible. They're atheists.

Don't know if you've ever come across people.

I have, You know, you go out to these functions.

And when I was with the police, we used to go a lot of the

dinners and things and sit with people.

We we had no idea. And.

And like. Oh, yeah.

Well, I actually, I've studied the Bible.

I studied at university. I did this.

Oh. So you believe it?

No. And so people, they, they can

know all about the Bible. And there are, then there are

the other group of people who are busy and then we see them.

It's kind of like the Australian culture.

They're a great person. They'll go to heaven.

You know what, they're always at the soup kitchen, they're always

cutting someone's lawn. They're always doing that.

They're they're great. They're nice people, always

doing something to someone. It's not how feverishly or busy

you conduct your spiritual activity.

So the two builders, the two builders according to Jesus have

both heard his message, heard his words.

Then at the end of verse 24 and 26, we said we read of the two

men building their houses. Both have listened and both are

involved in spiritual activity. Can't tell any difference

between the two. Like the four types of hearts

and the parable of the sower on the sea.

The first parable we did, you know, each one of the four types

of soil all heard the word, All of them.

But only one type of the soil received the word and then bore

fruit in its lives. One out of four.

Maybe they both belong to the same church, these two men.

Maybe they both read the Bible. Maybe they attended the same

meetings. But there's one huge difference

between the foolish one and the wise one.

What is that? One man is wise because he

builds on a rock. The other man is a fool because

he builds on sand. And note with me too, once the

houses are built, you can't tell what's under the under the

house. Both beautiful houses, House A

exhibit House B exhibit 2 builders, beautiful job.

They look amazing. Both both lovely.

What Jesus is saying is very simple.

Many people hear Christ teaching, but it's those who

obey his teaching that get into the Kingdom.

That's the bottom line. I need to pastor Israel referred

to it in Second Corinthians. I need to examine my life and

see if I'm a hearer only and not a doer as well.

Because if you are, you deceive yourself that you are a

believer. While I went to church, I heard

the message didn't make any difference the way you lived.

James chapter one verse 22 But be doers of the word, and not

hearers only deceiving your own selves, James says.

James goes on to say, For if any, be a hearer of the word,

and not a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his face and

glass. He beholds himself, he sees, and

he goes away, and he forgets all about what he looked like.

But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, Christ,

and continues therein, he is not a forgetful hearer, but he's a

doer of the work. In other words, I live my life

now driven because I know what Christ has done for me.

I haven't forgotten about it. Jesus said the storms that come,

and we're all going to face storms.

Everyone of us, all of us will face a big storm.

It's called death. And that will reveal the truth.

Who is wise and who is foolish. But you don't want to have it

revealed after death too late. So Jesus highlights our

similarities in the story. First, both men build a house.

Both were involved in spiritual activity that has to do with the

Kingdom of God. Both build the houses in the

same location, I believe, because we're told both houses

were subject to the same storm, same winds, same flood.

Thirdly, both of their buildings are so similar we can't tell the

difference. But Jesus says the only

difference was in their foundation, what the houses were

built on. So we look at the foundations.

Verse 24, it says that one man build his house upon a rock.

It's the Greek word Petra. It's a rock bed, solid rock.

The wise man build his house on a rock bed.

One Corinthians 311 Paul says for no other foundation can

anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

So he's to be the foundation. Verse 26 says the other man

build his house upon the sand. It's the Greek word, come on,

that is his house is built on sand, just like the beach, beach

sand. The false prophets, by the way,

in verses 15 to 20, they're the real estate agents selling you

the sandlots. Come and build here.

Come and live your life here. Jesus rebukes the religion of

the Pharisees in his Sermon on the Mount because they had no

regard for spirituality of soul. Theirs was all outward.

Jesus said, yeah, yeah, all nice and white, painted like, like

the dead man's tombs. You're all nice and white on the

outside, but inside you're full of death.

They had no purity of heart. They had no integrity, and their

behaviour was not in obedience to God.

They were building their big spiritual structure on sand.

But the wise man, he builds his life on rock.

Verse 24 What does it mean to build your life on rock?

You know what does that actually look like?

It is that we are building our lives on everything God tells

us. Psalm 18, Verse 2 The Lord is my

Psalms 18:2

rock. The rock is Christ on Peter 26,

He is the chief cornerstone. That's part of it.

However, in the context of Christ's sermon, there is more

to building on the rock than just saying, Oh my life is built

on Christ. Because verse 24 and 26 tell us

plenty who The Who the rock is. Jesus said, Whoever hears these

sayings of mine and does them qualify, I will liken him unto a

wise man to build his house upon a rock.

That's the difference. It is the people who hear and do

what Christ commanded that build their house on the rock.

So a young couple are thinking of getting married.

They start a relationship. Sorry.

They start, they begin seeing one another.

They see what the Bible says about how we should conduct

ourselves. We're not married, you know, so

we shouldn't have any premarital sex.

We shouldn't be living together. We should be separate.

And then they prepare. So they prepare.

How are we going to live? Are you the right person that

I'm to marry? Let's pray about, you pray

about. I'll pray about.

Let's go to God, see what God says about the matter.

You see, that's how you're building your house upon a rock.

You don't just go, oh, he's lovely or she's fantastic.

Doesn't work that way. The Lord is saying that the

person who only hears God's word but doesn't act on it is

building on sand. So what does the sand represent?

If Jesus is the rock, what's the sand represent?

Here's what the sand represents. Human will.

This is what I'm going to do. I know the Bible says that this

is what I'm going to do. OK, It's opinion.

Well, I've spoken to my friends and they say what I should do is

this. Everyone lives together, so we

should live together. And attitudes, the world's

attitudes. A foolish person builds his life

on the shifting sands of human philosophy.

And this isn't interesting. How the study of human

philosophy has changed since you went to school.

How come? How come it, How come the

raising of children has changed again, again and again and

again? Oh, we've done a great job,

haven't we? That's why I love the Bible.

Doesn't change. God doesn't change.

Truth doesn't. See, truth doesn't change.

Philosophy does, Pastor John Miller says.

What is philosophy? He says it's a blind man put in

a dark room, told to look for a black cat that doesn't exist.

He or she who builds on sand listens to God's Word.

They hear it, but they're not established on the rock.

Yeah, I know what the Bible says, but we're not doing it.

I'm not going to do that. I know the Bible says this is

how I should raise my children, but you know, I don't believe

that. Well, I think there's a better

way. The wise man that hears God's

word and builds his life on it. He's building on a rock

foundation. He lives the life of obedience.

I love that when I first got saved, how long I first got

saved, there are things we didn't know about what to do

about giving, about tithing about, you know, grace offerings

about serving in the in the church and things.

And every time I came up, the gifts that are there speaking in

tongues. Oh, did I mention that other

things like that and they're that are in the Bible and I went

well, if they're in the Bible and God says that's what we're

to do. I've got to change my mind.

I've got to do what the Bible says.

You know, it's a life of obedience.

John 830 Jesus said as he spoke these words, many believed on

him, says that as Jesus spoke, many believed on him.

They listened to Christ. And in verse 31 of the same

passage in John 8, Jesus added, but he says, oh great, he added,

if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples Indeed.

You see, if we just hear and believe doesn't mean anything

because you know what the devil does?

He hears, he believes that make him build a life built on the

rock. No, James says, no, it's when we

continue to obey the word of God that we build our lives on the

rock. James told us that be doers of

the word, not hearers only. In other words, if you are not a

doer of the Word, then it is not having any effect on your life

or destiny. It's not changing you.

You're not changing to the word. Building your life on the rock

means obedience. Again, examine your life.

Ask yourself, do you desire more than anything else, more than

anything else, to obey the word of God or do you continually

justify yourself whilst you're living in disobedience?

We're going through Daniel. They never justified themselves

ever. Daniel didn't.

Neither did Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego.

Never said, well, things are tough.

You know, we're we're away. We don't have our family,

there's no temple. And listen, we don't have

friends around us. Who's to know?

No, no, no, That's what we're learning, how to live righteous

in a fallen world. The apostle John really hits at

home and he says our obedience, our obedience is a sign of our

salvation. If you want to know how can I

tell if someone's a Christian, I recommend you read first John,

second John, and 3rd John, but particularly read very carefully

and slowly. 1 John, Throughout Christ's Sermon on the Mount,

the obedient life is described by Jesus.

He is the obedient believer. He says you assault, you are

light and you're in the world, but you're not part of it.

It does not seek to alter the Bible.

I don't seek, well, I know I don't like this part of the

Bible. I don't seek to alter my moral

standards on living are based on God's word, not what you know

the the fashions of the day say, but of the foolish man.

You see, it's easy to build on sand.

It's easy to go along with everyone else because you don't

have to dig. It's no effort.

Now we lived in Coogee at one time we put up a fence and the

boys were across the net and Israel were I don't have food,

ain't living some or younger. We dug one side.

It was solid limestone. It took us 3-4 days and it

killed us and we're trying to put super 6 fencing into the

ground everywhere. It was just so it was just, it's

hard. You have to dig, but that's the

way of life, the way of life on the Broadway.

It's easy, easy Christianity, easy.

Just go to church and don't, and just live like everybody else

and go to church. You can do what you want and

carry all the garbage with you. You don't have to change or

anything. Now a fool builds this way for

two reasons on sand. One, he's in a hurry.

Proverbs 2820 A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but

he that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

A fool is always looking for shortcuts and quick results.

I worked with the man in the Department of Education who was

originally a Carpenter and then he went into teaching manual

arts and then supervisor Superintendent.

I said, you know, So what? What was the big deal for you

learning how to be a good Carpenter?

He said this easy, don't learn the tricks of the trade, learn

the trade. People say no, no, you'll learn

the trade. Learn the trade.

Jesus says no one should build a tower until he has counted the

cost. We should say that to someone.

Every time they say, I think I want to become a Christian,

well, there's a cost. Luke 1428.

The one who builds on the sand is superficial.

They say they believe in God. They accept the gospel.

If there's no evidence in their life to confirm it, we can't

tell when their house begins to collapse.

They just look for another Sandlot to build.

The wise man is not in a hurry. That's one of the greatest

lessons I've learned in my life. Whenever I made mistakes, I was

always in a hurry. My biggest mistakes was always

made in haste. If you have a decision and it's

a big decision, I don't care if it's a big small decision and

someone says hurry up, make that decision.

Stop, not pause. I'm not.

No, since I hear that alarm bells go off.

Now. Danger.

Danger. If a salesman comes to our house

and he's trying to sell, you got to sign today of your deals

only. OK.

OK. Come walk, man.

I walk him out the door and I say see you later.

I don't want to talk with you. Don't make decisions, any

decision in a hurry. God is never in a hurry.

You go. Well, what if I miss out?

No, you don't miss out if you obey the will of God.

He dug deep. The wise men dug deep.

He dug deep for the rock. What's that?

God's word? What does God want to know about

this? He blew away the sand of human

opinion and self will. He counted the cost.

Later in Matthew 13, the parable of the sower of the seed, verse

20 to 21, there were Stony places where the seed fell.

I'm a Christian person, but as soon as the the demands of God's

words, it's difficult. You mean I've got to go to

church all the time? You mean I've got to pray or

read the Bible? You mean I can't do this, can't

do that? Stop.

No, you can do all that stuff, just can't be a Christian.

This is a choice. The wise man gives maximum

effort. Those who dig deep show a desire

to give maximum effort. Let me give you the figures from

a crusade, recent crusade, they're startling.

You know these massive crusades, 28,000 people professed

conversion on paper. At this crusade 28,000 people

came and said you don't want to have Jesus sin, sin his prayer.

9600 people were baptised. So it's dropping fair bit. 123

people only were added to the church, 123 out of 28,000.

Again the problem, the problem is not the difficulty of follow

up, it's the haziness of true conversion.

We cannot follow up people who were never redeemed.

It's not going to make any difference.

People say well we have to get converts and do a follow up

programme. No, why can't we just leave them

to the Holy Spirit? When I got saved, when Helen got

saved, we didn't need a follow up programme.

We needed restraining from doing too much.

We were, we just, it was everything.

Our lives changed. We were born again in a real

conversion. In a real conversion, God will

do his work. The person who digs deep is also

teachable. I wanted to learn everything.

I didn't know anything about the Bible.

I needed to know what do I do? How do I live?

How am my husband now? How am I to be a father?

How am I to be a worker? How should I work?

The Pharisees weren't teachable. You couldn't tell him anything.

The person who digs deep gets rid of his self righteousness

and self sufficiency. It's all finished.

It's nailed on the cross. He knows he's not commendable

and it's and he's overwhelmed by his sin.

That's what I was, and you strive to enter into the narrow

gate, and you place Scripture in your heart so that you won't sin

again against God. Psalm 100 and 1911, David says

thy word. I hid in my heart that I might

not sin against you. So what happened when the storm

came? What are the storms?

Floods of sickness, floods of poverty.

You lose your job, disappointments, all that didn't

work out, relationships, bereavements, death.

These are storms. They're all going to hit your

house, all going to hit your life.

Everything's going to be revealed in the storm.

Everyone in this world will encounter a storm.

Once sent from God, some will stand and others will collapse.

Great. Was the fall of the man built on

Santa. I've got some other things I was

going to finish off, but I want to finish on this.

Pastor Israel and I went to Hollywood Hospital today.

We caught up with Leon, saw him, he's had his operation.

Pastor Israel prayed with him and we read some scriptures and

we talked with him. And I've got to tell you, he was

smiling. His skin colour was good.

He's put on some weight. He's changing his what he's

eating, hoping to be home soon, maybe in a week, two weeks,

We're not sure yet. We don't know.

But I said to Leon, suddenly you've been in hospital

basically around about a year. Is that long time anyway, eight,

well, eight weeks, that part there.

But he's been sick longer anyway.

So he says, well I've been in the Bible.

So I said, and I shared with him, you now have been through a

dark time in your life. You could have said why?

How come? But he was there smiling at

peace with God. So the storm came, hit a 16 year

old kid, flood came. His house was not built on sand.

He could have been angry, upset. How come me, why?

Why can't I end up losing weight?

Look at me, I can't get out of bed.

Can't do this. But you see, because his house

is built upon rock, his salvation is sure he's going to

come out of this and he'll have a greater understanding and

experience of of the traumas and storms of life at just the age

of 16. You see, the difference is found

out when the storm hits. I pray that you're aware that

your life is built upon the rock and that's not sitting on sand.

Let's pray. Father, we ask for your grace

and mercy to be with us. Lord, let us realise that a

faith that cannot stand trial is not a faith to be trusted in

that, a faith that costs nothing in the sense of religion and

consists in nothing but hearing and not doing.

There's a faith that gives us nothing or our faith is in you,

in your work. And Lord, we're so thankful that

you never forsake us nor leave us.