Masterclass: The Right Way

Welcome to the Rolling Hills sermon podcast. The Rolling Hills sermon podcast aims to bring the sermon from our Sunday morning service to you each and every week. Whether you're a longtime follower of Christ or just beginning to explore who Jesus is, we invite you to join us as we dive deep into God's word and what he has to teach us today. So listen in as we jump into what God has in store.

Well, just South of Cincinnati, in Northern Kentucky, there's a small little town with a memorable name, Rabbit Hash. Rabbit Hash is a quaint little town, but it has one problem. It sits on the Ohio River and it sits at the lowest point of the flood plain of the Ohio River. Three massive floods over the course of the last one hundred and fifty years have completely destroyed the town. 1884 was the first flood and then again in 1913 and then the historic flood of nineteen thirty seven crested at 80 feet.

Everything was destroyed except the general store. The general store in that flood of Can we go to the first photo? I'm so sorry. There we go. The general store in that flood of nineteen thirty seven, it's actually said that the water completely covered to the top of the roof.

It was completely submerged in water. Now let's go to the next one. There's actually people that said decades later, you could find mud from the Ohio River in the attic of the general store. And you would see this photo and you would think there's no way that it's not gonna be swept away in the current that its foundations aren't gonna be ripped right off the ground and destroyed into the river down to be the problem for the next neighboring town. And yet, as the waters receded, the general store in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky remained.

Now, what about the foundation allowed it to withstand such forces? As they inspected it, what they realized was that there were steel rods that were woven through the walls that went into the foundation and into the bedrock. The general store of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky ain't going nowhere. And you might ask, what does this general store and then this little town with a funny name have to do with the sermon on the Mount? I think it's a really powerful illustration of what Jesus wants to teach us today about what it means to have our foundation built upon the rock.

For the last several weeks, we've listened as Jesus has described what life in his kingdom looks like. He's taught us about righteousness and anger and lust and where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. And he's told us not to worry and he's told us not to judge and to love one another and to experience a nearness with the father. And now Jesus concludes the sermon on the Mount and he brings everything to a decision. He presents two ways of living, the broad way and the narrow way, the foolish way and the wise way.

One way leads to life and another leads to destruction. The title of my sermon today is this, When the Storm Comes. And the question before us as we conclude our Sermon on the Mount series, we make our turn toward the fall. This is our question. When the storm comes, will you stand or will you be washed away in the current?

Will your foundation crumble under the forces of the waters or will you remain anchored with steel rods connecting you to the rock? Jesus has spent three chapters teaching us what life in the kingdom looks like, and now he asks every listener, everyone who has heard these words to decide what they will do with what they have heard. And this is our big idea today. It's this, every person must decide what they will do with the words of Jesus. Throughout history, every person must decide what they will do with the words of Jesus.

So we live in a world that's dominated by trends and clips and short form reels. And if we're not careful, we'll approach our spiritual life in this way, like a buffet. We'll take a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I had some of that last week, but it doesn't look good today. And yet Jesus tells us that his truth is just as true today as it was two thousand years ago.

So again, church, I'll ask you, what will you do with the words of Jesus? He begins his closing section of the sermon with a memorable and often referenced picture, two gates and two roads and one choice between them. Look back with me to verse 13. He says, enter through the narrow gate. He's giving us a command right out of the gate as it were, enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction.

And he says many, many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. We're gonna talk a little bit about these two verses first, that word find reminds me of just what we talked about last week when Jesus says that those who seek will find and so he's saying only a few are seeking. As we work our way through this closing text today, we're gonna see three ways that Jesus calls us to respond to what he's teaching us. So if you're looking on how you will respond to the words you hear from Jesus, he's gonna give us three ways. The first is this, choose the right path.

Choose the right path. I want us for just a moment to imagine the picture before us how the disciples and those who had gathered around the sermon on the mat to hear the sermon on that, how they would have heard his words. They would have known that the Romans were known for building incredible roads. It was really an advancement in society. They build these really incredible wide roads that made travel much easier.

And they had these grand gates at the entrances to cities. I imagine the gate at the entrance of Disney World and the rope drops and just like floods of people just go into the park. And when you're searching for direction, it's easy to assume that the crowd must know where it's going. Have you ever been someplace that you didn't know where you were and you just simply followed the people in front of you? We do that.

You think they look confident, surely they know where they're going. And if enough people are doing it, we assume it can't be that wrong. If someone we admire believes it or celebrates it or builds their life around it, we begin to assume it must be safe. As I was preparing this week, I came across this piece of artwork called the broad and the narrow way. It's attributed to many, artists, but there's a powerful imagery as you look at on the left, you've got the broad gate leading to the broad road.

People are just flooding through the gates. I mean, there's there's room they can, they can make their way through it. And then the narrow gate is this tight entry point. It's a, it's a squeeze. But what we see from this is because so many people are traveling together on that wide road, it appears completely normal.

But Jesus says that the popularity of the road tells you nothing about where it ends. If you just look up ahead, obviously, where they're headed doesn't look that inviting. And if you look at if you look at me again in verse 13, it begins with this command, enter through the narrow gate. You see Jesus, he's not merely showing us two different ways of living and leaving us to decide which one of those ways looks best. He gives us specific directions.

Enter this way. I'm grateful that in the painting, the narrow road is on the right because we said the right way and it it doesn't confuse you. Enter this way. When I'm visiting a new place and I don't know where I'm at, I'm gonna ask someone who knows it, who's been there before, how to get to where I'm going. They're gonna give me very specific directions.

And they might say, you're gonna get to the exit, you're gonna take a right by the twice daily, you're gonna go about a mile down the street, you're gonna turn left, cross a creek, and then you're gonna get there. Now why would they be so specific? Because if they weren't, there are many roads that I could take and only one of them is leading to where I want to go. And Jesus says, there's a right way to enter and a wrong way to enter. The gate you choose places you on a road and that road is carrying you toward a destination.

The second half of 13 says for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. It's an intense word that Jesus uses there. When we think of destruction, I think there are some times that we need to recognize that Jesus is giving us a very intense warning. Destruction in this case means eternal separation from God. It means final judgment.

And when we look at this photo again, I mean, that's what's up ahead. Jesus is saying the broad road is popular, but doesn't lead to life. The broad road is popular, but doesn't lead to life. Actually, it leads to destruction. And someone might say the broad road is easy.

There's room and I've got baggage that I'm bringing. I've got suitcases with roller wheels and I need smooth roads to bring those on with me. And that's exactly what makes the broad road attractive. It allows us to carry everything with us, every preference, every appetite, every compelling and competing loyalty, every part of our lives that we refuse to surrender. But Jesus says that road leads to destruction.

Okay, well then perhaps you take the narrow road, but you think, well, at least it's straight, right? That's what we say, the straight and narrow, but that's not what Jesus is talking about here. The word he carries, the word he uses carries this idea that the way is constricted, it's pressed in, it's difficult, it's costly. The narrow road is not necessarily smooth. It might be windy, it might feel lonely.

There may be moments when following Jesus costs you something like approval or comfort or an opportunity or belonging. And then the theme appears again throughout the New Testament. Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas are talking to the disciples around them and they say this, we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Many hardships. And then once again, Paul tells Timothy, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Jesus never promised us that the narrow road would be the one of least resistance. So how do we know which path we're on? Or maybe the better question is this, where does following Jesus cost me something? Where does it cost me something? Where have the words of Jesus confronted what I wanted to believe?

Where have I chosen faithfulness over comfort or popularity or approval? Because the narrow way is not simply an unpopular version of the broad way. It is a fundamentally different way of living. It's what we've been talking about across the sermon on the mount, this upside down kingdom. Jesus cares about the heart, about what's on the inside, not what's on the outside.

It's a completely different way of understanding the authority of Jesus in our lives. But this raises another problem. Once you've entered the narrow gate, how do you know whose voice to listen to that can safely guide you along that road? That's where Jesus is headed because not every person standing beside the path and claiming to speak for God actually is leading people toward life. Jesus moves in this direction.

If you look with me in verse 15, he says, watch out for false prophets. Watch out for false prophets. Our first direction from Jesus is to choose the right path, and the second is to recognize the right voice. Recognize the right voice. So there are two roads, two gates, two choices, one leads to life, the other to destruction.

And then we pick up here in verse 15 once again, watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you'll recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, and here comes a tongue twister, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit and a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, but a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus by their fruit, you will recognize them. There's a warning that we need to heed here as we're reading this. Jesus says, watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ferocious wolves.

He doesn't say watch out for wolves. That'd probably be a little bit easier. But he says watch out for wolves in sheep's clothing. Meaning if you just look on the outside, these voices seem trustworthy. They quote scripture, they say all the right things.

They they make you feel all warm and fuzzy. When you listen to them, they they they sound compassionate. They use words like love and peace and purpose and healing and authenticity and hope. I mean, this is the culture that we live in. And some of you might remember this from the early two thousands.

There was a book that came out that was a bestseller called The Secret. Anybody remember this book? And The Secret was a bestseller, sold millions of copies, Oprah endorsed it, other celebrities endorsed it. And people were captivated because it had this promise that your thoughts could shape your reality. That if you learned the secret, the universe would respond to your desires.

And it sounded hopeful, it sounded empowering. It even borrowed from spiritual language, but at its core, it wasn't teaching you to trust in a sovereign God. It was teaching you to trust in yourself. And that's exactly why Jesus says, watch out. Not because every false voice is loud and obvious because many of them sound hopeful and compassionate and even spiritual.

The secret was twenty years ago, but we still have this today, whether it's manifestation or astrology crystals, a wellness influencer or self help guru on YouTube. And Jesus's words are still the same. The name changes, but Jesus's warning doesn't. This is it. Not everything that sounds spiritual leads to Jesus.

Not everything that sounds spiritual leads to Jesus. False prophets are all in our culture. They're on your news feeds. I saw some this week. There are some that are in Nashville.

And let's think about what a prophet was just to help us understand this. A prophet was someone who could see the future. Yes, but also at their core, were someone who spoke for God. So how we can define a false prophet is this way. Someone who falsifies God's word, either by openly contradicting it or more likely as Jesus kind of indicates by twisting its meaning.

So how do we know the difference? If they look like sheep, how can we discern the sheep from the wolves? Jesus gives us a test and it's simple really when you think about it. Look for the fruit. Look for the fruit because healthy roots produce healthy fruit.

So we got to look for the fruit, but I want us to talk about what it looks like to recognize fruit because it's not something that's subjective. Jesus isn't telling us to decide for yourself what a good life looks like, what good fruit looks like. God has already told us what healthy fruit looks like. And Jesus, when he says, you may, you will recognize them by their fruit. He's assuming that we know what kind of fruit God produces, but our culture often confuses attractive fruit from Godly fruit.

We might look at an influencer and say, they seem joyful. We might look at a motivational speaker and say, they've helped so many people or a spiritual teacher and say, they seem so kind and compassionate and in touch with themselves. And some of that may be genuinely true. But Jesus calls us to a deeper question. Does that person lead people to Christ?

Is there humility? Is there repentance? Is there holiness or self denial? Is there a submission to the authority of God's word? Because someone can help you feel calmer without ever helping you become more like Jesus, And someone can improve your habits without ever calling you to repentance.

Someone can inspire you without ever pointing you to the cross. Now, I want to pause and say some of that is good, right? We can learn to be more productive, but I just wanna make sure that what we take in is not informing how we view God. Because God is very clear on who he is and it's right here. So if we're gonna take someone's advice with how to view God, then we need to put them through this test.

There needs to be fruit. They need to sit under the authority of God's word. And Jesus says, these things are not healthy fruit. So there's an urgency when we get to verse 21, when he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles.

And then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me evil doers. These are some of the most sobering words in all of the sermon on the Mount. And they're directly connected to what we just said about the difference between true and false prophets. Jesus has been warning us of this, and now these false prophets stand in judgment before Jesus, the kingdom of heaven. And they're not arguing whether or not they did good things.

Say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied, we drove out demons, we performed miracles. On the outside, they looked incredibly spiritual. If they lived today, they might have best selling books or, you know, packed out conferences, millions of followers on social media. They got the blue check mark, they verified accounts, all those things. But if we look at this painting one more time, this is what I just want us to see that I think we often miss.

If you look, if you zoomed in, you would see some people that are evil that are committing crimes, but you'd also see some people who are respectable. You'd see some people who are generous. You see some people who look moral, who actually look deeply religious. And that's what makes Jesus' warning more unsettling because appearances can deceive. Then Jesus says one of the most haunting lines that we just read in scripture, I never never knew you away from me.

He didn't say I knew you once. He says, I never knew you. And the problem wasn't that they lost a relationship with Christ. They just never had one to begin with. They knew his name, they did impressive things in his name, but they never truly belonged to him.

And that's the difference between doing the things of Jesus and knowing Jesus. Now, some of you will read this if you're like me, and and there'll be a concern that crosses your mind. Could this be me? And and I just wanna encourage I I I had spent some time on this this week because I I knew that would be the case. I wanted to encourage the church.

If you even are concerned about that, that shows a heart to know Jesus. And that's not what Jesus is doing here. He doesn't wanna leave his disciples with this constant fear. He's giving them discernment. He's telling them don't confuse giftedness with godliness.

He's telling us that too. Don't assume someone speaks for God simply because they're talented. Don't assume that someone it belongs to Jesus simply because they're impressive. Test the fruit. Look at where they lead people, whether they truly know Christ.

Jesus does Jesus doesn't leave us wondering how to avoid deception. He ends the sermon on the mount by bringing us back to the question that has been underneath the entire, the entire section. What will we do with his words? It's not enough to admire them, to know them, to repeat them, or even do impressive things in his name. The difference between a life that stands and a life that collapses is whether we actually put the words of Jesus into practice, which brings us to his final picture and our third response, which is this, build your foundation before you need it.

Build your foundation before you need it. Look at verse 24. Therefore, he's wrapping up this entire section. He's wrapping up the difference between the narrow gate and the wide gate. He's wrapping up the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet, a true disciple and a false disciple.

And after all of this that we've learned, he says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall. Why? Because it had its foundation on the rock.

Two things we can take from this. He says, everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice. So therefore we need to put the words of Jesus into practice. That's how we build our foundation before we need it. And then the second thing that he gives us is this, the foundation has to be on the rock.

At the end of the day, the only preventative maintenance that we can do on this house that is our life is working on our foundation. If you do that, Jesus says, you will not fall. You can withstand the elements. You can withstand persecution. You can withstand the hardships of life in the fallen world that we live in this side of Eden.

When you're tethered to the rock, when you hear his words and you put them into practice, when you know the Lord Jesus, when you can say like the great Welsh revivalist, Laurie Evans, at the bold age of 17 when she was with her peers, I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart. Then beloved, your heart is tethered to the rock. Psalm sixty two two, he alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress. I will never be shaken.

You can sing Psalm 90 five:one, come let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Verse 26, but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash. There are two choices, The wise man and the foolish man.

The rock in the sand, the wide and the narrow, the good fruit and the bad fruit. What's the state of your foundation today? What's the state of your foundation? Remember where we started this morning, that little general store in that little town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky in the middle of the floodwaters. Can we see that picture one more time?

See the dogs, they actually vote for dog mayor in Rabbit Hash. So I think this is like a stump speech right now. Flood after flood swept through Rabbit Hash and buildings were damaged, structures were washed away, but the general store remained, why? It's because long before the storm came, someone had driven steel rods through the structure and anchored them deep into the bedrock beneath it. Those rods weren't visible whenever the weather was calm.

Nobody walked into the store and admired the steel that was beneath the floorboards. But when the flood came, what had been built in secret became the reason the building could stand. Church, we need those steel rods in our lives. Scripture memory is a steel rod. Daily devotion with God is a steel rod.

Living in community with one another is a steel rod. Serving alongside one another with the love of Christ is a steel rod. Confession is a steel rod. Prayer is a steel rod. Generosity is a steel rod.

Obeying Jesus when obedience costs you something is a steel rod. Now none of those things earn salvation. None of them replace Jesus as our foundation. They are practices through which we keep driving our lives deeper into him, hearing his words and putting them into practice. This is how you build your life on the rock of Jesus Christ.

Not by constructing a religious facade that looks good on the outside, but the moment that the wind blows, it knocks it over and it collapses. You build slowly, faithfully and deeply anchoring your life in the way of Jesus so that what you're building will last not merely for the storms of this life, but for eternity. Storms don't create foundations, they reveal them. Storms don't create foundations, they reveal them and you know storms are coming. For some of you, they've already come.

As some of you can testify, you're living proof that the storms are coming. It can take away a great deal from you. It can take your plans. It can take your lights. Storms are coming.

Can take someone you love, It can shake nearly everything that you thought was secure. But when your life is built on Jesus, the storm may shake the house, but it can't take the foundation. Just like that general story, you ain't going nowhere. The steel rods hold, the rock remains and Christ will hold you fast. Storms don't create foundations, they reveal them.

So our response today is simple. Build your life on Jesus. As we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, our response is simple. What are you gonna do with his words? Build your life on Jesus.

Last week, challenged us to set aside some time to spend with the Lord. I said, pick a plan, pick a place, pick a time. And then the next day I missed mine. And it's a humbling reminder that I'm still learning to build. None of us builds perfectly.

We get rods out of place, we forget them sometimes. But that's why church I'm thankful that it's not ultimately up to us to hold tightly to Christ because he is holding tightly to us. So before we take communion, Matthew gives us one final picture here in verse 28 says, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. Do you know you can be amazed, but you cannot sit under the authority of his teaching. The crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law.

They were astonished. It never heard anyone speak like this. Jesus didn't stand before them offering a few helpful suggestions for a better life. He didn't say, here's one path among many. He didn't say, take what works for you and leave the rest.

He spoke with authority. He spoke as the King. But as I said, astonishment is not the same thing as surrender. You can be impressed by Jesus, but never follow through with obedience. You can admire His words, but never build upon them.

You can call him Lord and still refuse his authority over your life. So the question at the end of the sermon on the mount, it's not simply did you enjoy this sermon? The question is, what do you think about the Lord Jesus? What do you think about him? Does he have authority in your life?

Does he have authority in your relationships, your ambitions, your finances? Does he have authority in your habits, in your private life, in your wounds? Does he have authority in your future? Is Jesus merely someone you just admire or is he Lord? Every person must decide what they will do with the words of Jesus.

The crowd stood astonished, but now the decision belongs to us. Will we walk through the narrow gate? Will we listen to his voice over every other competing voice? Will we hear his words and put them into practice? Will we build our lives on Jesus?

And I got good news. The one who commands our obedience is also the one who gave himself for our salvation. And the one that calls us to walk the narrow road, he walked it and he walked it perfectly. The one who tells us to build on the rock is himself and he is the rock of our salvation. So this is why we come to this moment where we remember.

This is why we do communion so that we can remember that it's not up to us. He asks us to come follow me. So will you do that? You take your communion elements. I love to remind us of what I said last time we did communion.

If you were here, you may remember it. I came across this teaching a couple months ago, in ancient Israel, the betrothment, the engagement process didn't look as like ours does. There wasn't a man coming and kneeling to show a ring instead they would have a meal as a family and the bridegroom, the man would sit on one side of the table and the bride on the other, the bride to be in an act of popping the question, he'd slide the cup of wine toward her. And if she received the wine, that was a yes. They would have known this when Jesus sat at the table and he slid a cup of wine to them.

Do you know what you're committing to? And so today we remember that. We take the bread, if you would with me peel back the foil. We remember the significance of his body broken for us. Paul says this in first Corinthians, for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.

The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and and when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Take and eat. Let me peel back the foil. In the same way after supper, he took the cup saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. Take and drink. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we thank you that it's not up to us. Thank you that you came and lived a perfect sinless life.

Was us that you had in mind when you went to the cross. It was our sins and our debts that you took on you as you were nailed to that cross, as you were buried and then it was the hope of life forever with you, the fulfillment of God's promises, God restoring his people to him when you rose from that grave. Oh, hallelujah. We praise you Jesus. We pray as we process this teaching as we finish our time in the sermon on the mount.

Thank you, Lord, for such a beautiful sermon. It's so impacted me. And I pray, Lord, as we sing now that our hearts would be full of hope, that we would sing as we commit our lives to building our foundation on you, Lord. Show us where we need to put steel rods in our life. We love you so much, Lord.

We ask this in your name. Amen.

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