The Life You Build.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:08] If it’s your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:10] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:12] And as always, I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:15] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter 7.

[0:19] We’re going to be starting in verse 24 this morning, finishing the sermon on the mount [0:24] as well as our series going through the book of Matthew, the first seven chapters, rather. [0:31] Next Sunday, we’re going to be starting a series about the victory that we have in Christ [0:35] and the victory that the gospel of Jesus brings us. [0:38] And we’re going to be doing that from Romans chapter 8. [0:40] And then after that, I’ve entitled the season that we will be in, the Christmas season,

[0:45] one of my most creative titles ever, I think. [0:48] And that will begin, strangely enough, during the Christmas season. [0:51] And so the last few weeks, we’ve been covering this really remarkable conclusion [0:58] to Jesus’s sermon on the mount. [1:02] And much of the focus of Matthew 5 through 7 really has a focus on preventing hypocrisy [1:09] in your life.

[1:11] You’ve noticed something throughout these few chapters. [1:14] Jesus hates phonies. [1:16] He hates them. [1:17] Jesus has no room for someone who is going to have a disingenuous faith in him. [1:24] And so really, the gearing of the sermon on the mount is to make you take introspection [1:30] on your faith to see whether it is valid or not, to see whether it is legit or not,

[1:36] to see whether or not it is a counterfeit faith that will actually exhibit itself [1:41] in great hypocrisies happen in your life. [1:44] And Jesus would have us to avoid that. [1:46] And as he funnels down to this conclusion, he is radically exclusive where we might [1:52] even want him to be more inclusive. [1:56] Because we love options.

[1:57] We love multiple choice. [1:59] We love having many roads that we can take down and actually have them turn out okay. [2:05] But Jesus always boils it down to either this or that. [2:09] He always gives us two choices. [2:12] In Matthew chapter 5, there were two forms of righteousness. [2:14] Then there were two types of judgment.

[2:18] Then there were two masters that you can follow. [2:22] Then there were two paths that lead to two different gates. [2:27] And last Sunday, we took a look at two different types of fruit that your life can bear. [2:32] And today, he’s actually going to conclude with what I think is one of the hardest sayings [2:37] of Jesus. [2:37] He’s going to talk to us about two different types of foundations

[2:41] that we can build our lives upon. [2:43] One is the rock of Jesus Christ, and the other is the sand of disbelief. [2:50] And really, when we’re talking about this, this type of analogy isn’t lost on us. [2:54] It’s just as relevant, if not more relevant now than it was over 2000 years ago when Jesus [2:59] gave it. [3:00] Because in our context, then most of you are of an age where you’re either thinking

[3:05] about buying a house, you have bought a house, you’ve bought and sold a couple of houses. [3:10] But most of us know the importance of the foundation on a house, especially when there [3:17] is soil like there is in this town where we deal with something that many people don’t [3:21] deal with. [3:22] That’s shrink-swell soil. [3:24] Years ago, if you’re not from here, I’ll school you.

[3:28] Years ago, there was a dispute between the city and the county, and those disputes have [3:33] never gone away. [3:34] But this particular dispute was over taxes on drinking water in certain parts of our [3:39] area, and the county responded by saying, that’s fine, we’ll just dig our own drinking [3:45] water. [3:46] And that’s what the reservoir is.

[3:48] Reservoir is a man-made body of water. [3:50] It hasn’t always been there, and Chesterfield County dug it and then filled it in with [3:54] water, and that’s where you get your drinking water today. [3:57] And actually, the reason that they chose the area that they did is because that was [4:00] basically a swamp back in the day. [4:03] And many of you who live on the land around it don’t realize that you basically live on

[4:08] the top of a swamp where a developer had the vision to bring in fill dirt and just [4:14] filled in the swamp. [4:15] And, oh, that’s Brandermill. [4:16] And so many of you have houses in Brandermill, and your house is on top of what was filled [4:24] dirt, and they filled in the swamp. [4:25] And what many of the people building the houses didn’t foresee is that there would be some

[4:32] issues with the soil where when it is raining a lot, the soil is one way, and then when [4:39] we experience the season kind of like we’re experiencing now where it’s pretty dry around [4:43] here, the soil will shift in its dryness, but you can build a foundation for a house [4:49] in a certain way to deal with those types of shifts, but they didn’t build many of the [4:56] foundations adequately to deal with it. [4:59] And so many people in Brandermill have had to bring people in, and they’ve spent not

[5:04] just like a couple hundred bucks, but they’ve spent thousands and thousands and thousands, [5:07] some even tens of thousands of dollars to address the foundation issues, and some of [5:12] it has been great. [5:13] And then other stories are that they address this issue, and then five years later, another [5:18] issue with the foundation, they had to spend even more money. [5:22] And Jesus likens the life that we build to a foundation.

[5:28] So many of us have HGTV vision. [5:31] We go to look at a house and we’re worried about the countertops. [5:35] Is it man-made or is it, you know, God-made? [5:38] Is it granite? [5:38] Is it quartz? [5:39] Is it, you know, you know, some type of Superman material?

[5:43] I don’t know what’s out now. [5:45] And then I had somebody come to my house one day trying to sell me windows, and he said [5:48] there was there was Krypton gas between the windows, and I was like, from Superman’s planet? [5:55] And he was offended by my question, and so I told him to leave. [6:00] It’s interesting thing is that I say a lot of offensive things, and I know I do, but [6:03] if you’re in my house, I’m just going to say whatever I want.

[6:07] And if you don’t like it, well, I but the key is, is that so many of us, we look at [6:14] the drapes, we look at the interior decorating, we look at the colors on the wall, and then [6:18] I’ve actually had conversations even with staff members here, and they looked at all [6:22] these things. [6:22] They said this is the best house ever, and I’m such a steal. [6:25] And then the inspector’s report comes back, and they said I didn’t look at the foundation.

[6:31] And it’s going to require thousands of dollars worth of work, and then you’ve got the decision, [6:35] do I go ahead or do I cancel the contract? [6:38] See, the foundation is something that isn’t pretty. [6:43] It’s most of the time just cinder block, especially around here, and it’s where the crawl [6:47] space is, and we don’t really want to go down there, especially me, because there’s spiders, [6:51] and God knows what’s going on down there.

[6:54] And so I like the inspector, he can go down there, and I’ll just maybe hold the flashlight [6:58] at the door, if that. [7:01] But we’re more interested in what’s going on above grade. [7:05] We’re more interested in what type of oven is it? [7:08] Is it gas or is it convection? [7:10] You know, what’s going on with all of that?

[7:12] I can we include the drapes in the contract? [7:15] I want the washer and dryer. [7:17] I want the refrigerator. [7:18] And in the meantime, it could be that the house was actually built on a completely [7:22] faulty foundation, and that’s the last thing that you think about. [7:28] But with Jesus, it’s the first thing that he draws our attention to.

[7:32] Number one, this morning, I want you to understand there’s a difference [7:35] between knowing and believing. [7:37] Knowing is not the same thing as believing. [7:41] Hear the words of Jesus starting in verse 24. [7:44] Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who [7:48] built his house on the rock.

[7:50] The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. [7:55] But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. [7:59] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them [8:03] will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. [8:07] And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house. [8:12] And it fell and great was the fall of it.

[8:16] And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. [8:21] For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

[8:28] Jesus says a few things that oftentimes we don’t pay any attention to when we’re [8:32] actually talking about the story. [8:34] We immediately go to, oh my goodness, the two different types of foundation. [8:38] But Jesus kind of has a presupposition on top of that. [8:41] You see, both of the audiences, those who built their house on the rock and those who [8:47] would build their house on the sand heard the same message.

[8:51] And Jesus actually points this out. [8:53] He says, everyone who hears these words, both camps heard, both camps knew, [9:01] but only one would believe. [9:04] And that’s the person that builds their house on the rock. [9:07] So my fear for many people, and especially for many of you, is many of you have been [9:12] in church for a number of years, maybe even your entire life.

[9:16] Many of you have even been in this church for a number of years. [9:20] You’ve heard message after message, sermon after sermon. [9:23] You’ve attended many Bible studies. [9:25] You might want to ignore that. [9:27] Many Bible studies. [9:30] You’ve been in community groups.

[9:33] You’ve been in discipleship groups. [9:35] And you know the Gospel. [9:39] I could sit down with you and I could pepper you with question after question after question. [9:43] And you’d probably get them all right. [9:45] You’d probably be able to tell me all types of facts. [9:47] Maybe you can say the books of the Bible forwards.

[9:49] Maybe you can say them backwards. [9:51] Maybe you know all the words to Father Abraham had many sons, all right, [9:54] and you think you’re one of them.

[9:58] But knowing is totally different than believing, [10:00] especially when your knowledge is no better than just the information on the back of a baseball [10:05] card. I know a tremendous amount of things about this world. [10:10] Anybody that’s lived for 40 or more years, you pick up a little bit of knowledge along the way. [10:16] I know how to eat and not get diabetes later, and I ignore it.

[10:23] Wholesale.

[10:26] I know that if I eat certain vegetables, it’ll be good for inflammation. [10:31] Bad for the taste buds. [10:34] I don’t eat them.

[10:36] I know, but my belief has not exceeded my level of knowledge. [10:44] My belief is lacking in certain things. [10:47] See, many of you know enough about the Gospel that you have convinced yourself [10:51] that since you know the facts, then you believe. [10:55] But the life that you are building stands contrary to that reality. [11:01] You see, we like to look at the words of Jesus here, and we imagine two types of people.

[11:06] There’s the one person who hears the words of Jesus and believes, has his life radically [11:11] transformed, follows Jesus all of his days, and that’s the one on the rock. [11:15] And then we look at the sand and we say, oh, that’s the type of person that hears the Gospel, [11:21] rejects it wholesale, doesn’t like Jesus, doesn’t want to be a part of the church, [11:29] and doesn’t follow Jesus. [11:32] But I don’t think that’s what Jesus is telling us,

[11:34] because Jesus actually describes two houses that look exactly the same.

[11:40] And he says they’re going to experience the exact same storm, [11:44] so the houses are probably really close together.

[11:49] The fact of the matter is, is that from the exterior, untrained eye, you might think that [11:56] these two houses are built on the same foundation. [12:00] And Jesus points out, he says, and you won’t realize that it’s too late until it’s too late [12:06] when you see the ability that the house has to endure the storms that are sure to come. [12:15] He says, then you will realize there is a difference between knowing the truth and [12:21] believing the truth, because knowing the truth does not build within you any urgency

[12:28] or any feeling of responsibility to build a life on the foundation of that truth, [12:35] and instead believes that you can just check off a few boxes, and as long as it looks good, you’re great. [12:44] In John chapter 14, Jesus says this,

[12:48] if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, [12:53] and we will come to him and make our home with him. [12:57] There are three distinct facts about faith here. [13:02] The first one is that obedience doesn’t necessarily equal faith, [13:06] and that it is only love creating obedience that builds the life that Jesus wants, [13:16] and a specific type of love, a love for Jesus Christ.

[13:20] See, some of you have the type of faith that makes perfect sense to human ears. [13:27] You don’t want to go to hell. Who would? [13:31] And you want to do just enough to comfort yourself, to make you believe, [13:36] I’m not going to end up in hell, and I’m going to get heaven, [13:41] but the life that you’re building actually isn’t predicated on a love for Jesus. [13:46] It’s just predicated on, I don’t want to go to hell, and so you have this little checklist.

[13:53] I went to church. I even served on a serve team. [13:57] I went to a community group. Maybe I even went to a discipleship group. [14:02] I’ve done enough to where I feel like my level of obedience is sufficient [14:07] to comfort me and tell me that I am a Christian.

[14:14] Think about marriage. If I were to go home and I pulled out a checklist, I mowed the grass.

[14:26] I paid the bills. I picked up my underpants.

[14:32] I must be a great husband. What else can she expect of me? [14:38] Ever had the thought, what else could God want from me? [14:42] If that was my vision of marriage, I could expect a divorce. [14:49] Actually, the problem with many of your marriages is that’s your vision of marriage. [14:53] It’s a quid pro quo rather than a life of affectionate love.

[14:59] The problem that you have with Jesus is that you expect things from Jesus in response to what you [15:04] are doing, but there’s absolutely no love for Jesus in your life. Note what he says in the end. [15:10] He said it is love for Jesus that creates obedience to Jesus. In that way, God responds [15:17] by coming in. Here’s that analogy. He makes his home with you, a home of love, a home of affection. [15:27] All of us can get this analogy because in our context, we understand that it is a home that is [15:34] built for a family. We want that home to be filled with love. Everybody realizes, even though some

[15:40] of you are experiencing it, there’s nothing more miserable than being in a loveless home. [15:46] It’s terrible. No one has a vision for that. No one wants to marry someone and build a home [15:53] and then have that love fall apart to where it’s loveless. I have two children that love me. [16:01] The problem is I’m a father of three. It’s tough. It’s tough. My youngest,

[16:13] he’s three. He’s about to turn four and he better change his tune, friends, [16:20] or he’s out. He’s, I can make another one. All right. I’m just saying we’ve done it before. [16:28] Do it again. But I look to him sometimes because I’m desperate to earn his love, [16:33] desperate for it. You don’t understand the pain. I’m a weak man. [16:38] So what he doesn’t get is that everything he owns, I bought. It’s like, bro, I’m the man. [16:46] You should love me over this. He doesn’t. I look to him sometimes and I say, I love you. Do you

[16:52] love me? No. Heartless, cold as ice, cold as ice, cold as ice. It’s like, man, it’s like a dagger [17:01] going through my heart. It’s painful. And so I look to him one day. I remember a couple of weeks [17:07] ago and I said, and a regular thing, I love you. Do you love me? And of course he doesn’t. And [17:11] my wife says, I love you. Do you love me? And of course, yes. She makes me sick.

[17:20] Kids love her so much. She’s such a good mother. It’s a joke. Okay. I have to postscript some of [17:30] jokes now. You’ve been so offended over the past. But I say, do you love me? And he says, no. I [17:36] say, I’m your friend. Are you my friend? And he says, no. Then he went too far. All right. He [17:43] crossed the line that he didn’t know existed, but I did. I said, I’m your father. Are you my son? [17:51] No. I said, whoa.

[17:56] And he’s three. He should know better. He’s had three years. But I looked at him and I said, oh, [18:03] oh, and there’s a problem here. Only my children can live here. So I’m going to go upstairs and [18:11] I’m going to pack a few of your belongings and you’re going to have to leave. Don’t judge me. [18:18] Okay. [18:19] He looks at me and he started to understand the gravity of the situation.

[18:26] And I said, I’m going to ask you one more time. [18:29] I’m your father. Are you my son? Yes. And I said, don’t you forget it.

[18:39] But we have this longing inside of us. And I believe God put it there [18:44] where we want to be loved and we want the ability to love. [18:48] And the key is that some of us are mistaken about our relationship with God. [18:52] We believe that God has come in, like John 14 says, and he has made a home with us. [18:58] It’s just a strained relationship. We’re just having some domestic, you know, disruption. [19:05] But here’s what you need to understand, that if you don’t have love and affection for Jesus,

[19:11] then he has not moved in. It’s not that you have a strained relationship. It’s that he’s not there. [19:18] It’s that you have built a house and you have built a home of your own doing and you haven’t [19:24] built it with Jesus in mind. And when you do not build it with Jesus in mind, it is because it is [19:29] not on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have built your house on sand. [19:35] Amen. [19:37] J.C. Ryle, the great bishop, says this. He says, I doubt indeed whether we have any warrant for

[19:44] saying that a man can possibly be converted without being consecrated to God. More consecrated he [19:51] doubtless will be and can be as God’s grace increases in his life. But if he was not consecrated [19:59] to God in the very day that he was converted and born again, I do not know what conversion [20:07] means. I read that quote for the first time when I was 19 years old, and it shook me. [20:16] Caused me to take great inventory of my life. And so for 20 years I’ve kept that quote close, [20:22] and I read it frequently, to take inventory of my life, to give a reality check into my life.

[20:29] But the problem that many of you have in your lives is you’ve never taken inventory, [20:33] you’ve never looked at your foundation, you’ve never considered whether or not you truly have [20:39] faith in Jesus Christ as defined by Jesus Christ. And instead you’ve come up with your own [20:45] definitions. He is a God of your own making, and you’ve built your house on sand and there is no [20:51] love for Jesus. Well, friend, when there is no love, there is no foundation of the gospel. [20:57] And 1 John, he puts it this way, he says,

[21:00] By this we know that we’ve come to know him if we keep his commandments. [21:04] Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments as a liar in the truth [21:08] is not in him. Whoever keeps his word in him, note this, truly the love of God is perfected. [21:16] There’s that love again. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides, [21:23] and that word abides is the same idea as building a home. Whoever abides in him ought to walk in [21:32] the same way in which he walked. You keep his word because you love him. Do you?

[21:42] Number 2, this morning, your foundation determines how you endure storms. [21:47] Your foundation determines how you endure storms. [21:52] There are some misconceptions about Christianity from people outside of the faith, and even [21:56] sometimes people inside of the church, that they believe that if you have faith in Jesus, [22:01] then it is some type of cosmic storm blocker. You follow Jesus, you’ll never endure storms. [22:10] That’s not true. It’s not a cosmic storm block, kind of like we think about sunblock.

[22:16] Every May I have this activity that I do. My wife thinks it’s foolish, but I often don’t listen [22:22] to her because she tells me a lot of what I do is foolish, and that’s just unhelpful. [22:27] But she tells me it’s foolish because there’s no scientific data to back up this practice, [22:32] but I believe it’s sufficient and right, so I do it. I have this activity called a preemptive burn, [22:38] all right, and oh, you don’t know what that is? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s something that I [22:43] have red hair. I don’t know if you noticed that. It’s kind of the color of fire, and people with

[22:50] red hair tend to have fair skin. Now, I don’t have it as bad as some redheads have it, and [22:56] that’s because I’m blessed, but my skin has a little bit of a reddish complexion, and so I turn [23:03] red. That’s the only color I have. There’s Steve Red and then there’s Sunburn. Those are just the [23:09] levels that I have, and so every May, I started doing this when I was a teenager. [23:15] Every May, I’ll wait until it’s starting to get good and hot, and I’ll wait until the sun’s [23:19] overhead, and I go outside, and I shed the shirt, baby. I just bear it all, much to my neighbors

[23:25] chagrin, because here’s the deal you need to understand is that the less layers I wear, [23:30] it doesn’t get better. It gets phenomenally worse, but so whether I’m outside at home doing [23:36] yard work or I go to the pool, I do it no sunscreen, and I do it for an hour, sometimes [23:43] two hours, and I wait until I can be satisfied that I’ve gotten a good burn on, and then I go [23:50] inside, and I just deal with it for a couple of days. I’m sunburnt, but what happens is [23:55] it creates a leather effect, where for the rest of the summer, I’ve done my preemptive burn,

[24:02] and so no sunburn for the rest of the summer is going to be that bad. My wife has told me this [24:06] is a bad idea, but since I came up with it, I assume it’s a good one, and so I’ve been doing [24:11] this for many years. Well, a couple of years ago, I went too far. Usually, my idea is I’m [24:17] eventually going to take it too far, and I did, and I got sun poisoning, and so I was sick as a dog, [24:23] and I got blistered. I mean, it was a terrible thing, and so I’ve had to rethink some of my [24:33] thoughts about it, and I’m telling you, I hate sunscreen. I hate the stuff. It’s oily, and it’s

[24:37] gross, and it takes forever to put on, and so we went to the beach, and my wife was like, why don’t [24:45] you put on some sunblock, and I was thinking about the disaster that had happened last year. I was [24:49] like, okay, I’ll put some sunscreen on, so I put some sunscreen on, and it took me 13 hours, and by [24:54] the time I was done, it was dark, but no, so I put on the sunblock, and we go down to the beach, [24:59] and we’re just having a great time. We’re looking at seashells. We’re out in the water. We’re [25:03] having a blast, and my wife, if you don’t know, my wife is Hispanic, and that means that she has

[25:08] this thing in her skin called melanin, and so she gets darker when she’s in the sun for a long time. [25:16] I just get redder, but there’s more to it than that. If you don’t have red hair, you probably [25:21] don’t know this. We feel every degree of the sun, all of them, and so we had been outside for about [25:29] an hour, and my wife and my children, who have some of her melanin, and a little bit of mine, [25:35] but not as much, apparently, and they’re picking up seashells, and I’m lagging behind, because I’m [25:39] like, oh, sweet Lord, we’re in an oven, and so I’m looking at my wife, and I’m like, how are you not

[25:45] hot, and she says, it feels great out here to me, and I’m like, I hate you, but so I’m baking in an [25:51] oven, but then we went inside. We’d been out there for a couple of hours. I took a shower to get all [25:55] that nasty sunscreen off of me, and then I get out of the shower, and I’m like,

[26:01] I’m not burnt, so I go outside to my wife, and I’m like, you’ll never believe this, Jesse.

[26:09] Sunscreen works.

[26:12] She was nowhere near as impressed as I was with that, and she just looks at me, and she says, [26:17] I know. Wait, pray for us.

[26:24] But what you need to understand is that Jesus and faith in Him doesn’t cause a block [26:30] for life’s realities. If anything, Jesus has actually told us that if you’re going to follow [26:37] Him, you can expect to suffer more, because there will be suffering, there will be persecution, [26:43] there will be hardships. Following Jesus does not deter any of that. You will experience [26:50] relational turmoil. Your children will disappoint you. Someone you love may betray you. Someone [26:58] you love may walk out of the door and abandon you. You may hear a message from the doctor that you

[27:06] do not care to hear. You may actually even, you know, where church history is concerned, you may [27:12] suffer persecution because of your faith in Jesus Christ. And I have watched people with both [27:19] foundations endure the exact same storms, but it’s a stark contrast. None of them want to suffer. [27:28] No one wants to experience a storm and a hardship of life, but I’ve watched people who love Jesus, [27:35] who believe the gospel, who have faith. I have watched them suffer hardships. You can’t even [27:42] imagine the darkness that they have walked through. And I’ve been with them and I’ve watched them.

[27:46] They don’t want to go through this, but they are. But here’s the difference. They experience it with [27:53] hope that they will come out on the other side. They experience it with the promise that Jesus [27:59] gave that all of this will work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called [28:05] according to his purpose, that there will be a day, even if it is not until Jesus delivers [28:11] his kingdom and entirety, they will experience pleasure once again. And I’ve also walked through [28:18] the exact same experience with people who have the facade of faith, but their foundation is sand.

[28:28] They don’t have the same heart. They don’t have the same confidence.

[28:34] They don’t have the same thought that Jesus will bring himself glory through this. [28:41] And I’m not comfortable, but I’ll walk with him. More often than not, what I’ve experienced with [28:48] people who have a foundation of sand is that they ask a question that’s devastating. Why would God [28:58] do this to me? How could God allow this to happen to me?

[29:07] You see, friends, so many of us, we build our house, it’s our life, with no thought [29:15] about our foundation. We’re doing what we want. We’re doing what’s going to make us happy. [29:20] We’re doing what makes me comfortable. We’re doing what will get me the most out of it. [29:25] And then when the storm comes, we look to God and say, do something.

[29:33] And we think God is going to pick the house that we put on sand up [29:37] and magically put it on the foundation of the gospel. And when he doesn’t, we blame him.

[29:45] And all the while God warned us and he warned us here. He said, build the house on the foundation [29:52] of the gospel and you will endure it because if you wait until the storm comes, you will not [30:00] be able to rebuild that house. It can’t magically go on the foundation of the gospel when the storm [30:07] is nailing you. Because God said you need to prepare for the storm when the sun is shining.

[30:17] But we were too preoccupied with knowing the gospel, but not applying the gospel. [30:24] Because it’s only through application that you believe. Your foundation determines how you endure [30:32] storms. You see, though the problem is that we only have one type of storm in mind.

[30:40] But Jesus elsewhere actually gives us a second type of storm that we’re going to have to deal [30:44] with in life. Jesus gives another parable and it’s called the parable of the sower. [30:51] And it’s about this sower who goes out and he’s got seed and he’s casting the seed around.

[30:58] And he gives four distinct realities and in the middle he gives us the two that are applicable [31:03] to today. In Matthew chapter 13 verse 20, he reveals that he’s talking about the gospel [31:10] and what real faith in the gospel looks like. And he says there will be phony faiths. [31:16] He says, what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word, [31:21] immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. [31:29] And when tribulation and persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

[31:36] And that’s what we think storms look like. But Jesus gives another verse 22. [31:43] As for the as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, [31:49] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

[31:59] So storms don’t always take the form of pain and adversity. Because I know some of you, [32:07] I mean you live in an affluent culture and some of you, you’ve avoided pain your entire life. [32:13] And you might think, well, I’ve never experienced anything hard, therefore,

[32:22] I’ve never experienced any hardship, therefore, everything must just be all right. I’ve had a good [32:29] life and nothing bad is really happening to me. You are experiencing storms just of a different type. [32:39] Affluence without a life built on the foundation of Jesus is a curse. And in our culture, that is [32:46] one of the hardest things you can possibly do. And I’m sure you’ve heard of it. And I’m sure you’ve [32:48] believed, why do you think Jesus elsewhere says that it is harder for a camel to go through the [32:53] eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? You’re experiencing storms.

[33:02] But sometimes storms look strangely like affluence. Riches, or what Jesus calls it, [33:10] he calls it the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches can choke out your [33:16] faith just as easily as suffering. Because you are tempted again to build your life, build your [33:23] mission, build your purpose on a false notion and identity. You build it on the cares of this world [33:29] and the deceitfulness of riches, but here’s the key, in the end, you will crumble.

[33:34] You will not endure. It’s just a different type of storm that will leave you destroyed in the end. [33:41] So what do you do? Build your life like Jesus is Lord.

[33:50] Build your life like Jesus is Lord. Because he is.

[33:57] You see, Jesus had this strange way of discipling people. I think you would find it offensive [34:03] because sometimes people come into the church and they’re like, I want discipleship, and then we’ll [34:07] start discipling them and they’ll be like, oh, this is too rudimentary for me. I’m beyond this. [34:12] And I always feel like looking at him saying, man, Jesus would have frustrated you, [34:16] because he dealt with the most religious of cultures and he always started with square one. [34:22] Always. One time he’s having a conversation with his disciples. I mean, these are guys he lived

[34:26] with, right? These are guys that spend all their time with him. He looks to him and he says, who [34:31] does everybody say that I am? And they threw out a couple of things. And then he looks at him. I [34:36] mean, he says, who do you say that I am? And as always, Peter’s the first one to speak up. [34:43] This time he got it right. But what’s interesting about this is in a few verses later, what he got [34:47] right, he would get dreadfully wrong. And then Jesus would call him Satan. All right. Here’s the [34:51] deal. You know, you’ve gone down a bad road. If Jesus says you’re Satan, all right, just a little

[34:57] word to the wise. That’s not what you want Jesus to say that you are. Well, Peter responds to the [35:04] question when Jesus asks, who do you say that I am? And he says, you are the Christ. You’re the [35:09] Messiah. You’re the son of God. And Jesus is basically like, bingo. But then he says, and on [35:16] this rock, I will build my church. See, Jesus was saying that it is about who he is that the [35:27] church will find its identity on. That the foundation of the church must be consumed, [35:32] absorbed and saturated in the reality that Jesus is the Christ, that he came to redeem,

[35:40] that he came to restore. He is King. He is God. But if you build your life on anything else, [35:50] it’s the sand. Jesus finishes his analogy. And then the text tells us [35:59] that the crowd was astonished. And I find that interesting because this is a crowd. [36:08] Keep in mind, it was very religious. It was steeped in Judaism. This is a crowd. Many of [36:15] the people in it could probably recite from memory the entire Pentateuch, which is the first five [36:20] books of the Old Testament. And they were astonished because his teaching had an uncommon authority

[36:28] and was nothing like the teachings of the scribes. And the scribes weren’t all bad guys. [36:32] The scribes are actually responsible for why we have such a good copy of the Old Testament today. [36:38] But they were astonished because in all of their religion, in everything that they knew,

[36:48] Jesus dared to ask a question and demand an answer. [36:56] And his question was, will you build your house on the Gospel?

[37:05] Or will you just know the facts?

[37:13] Some of the crowd heard Jesus and knew what he had said. They knew it. And some of the crowd believed.

[37:23] And there’s no third way. There is no way to soften the blow of what Jesus says here. [37:31] Because it destroys so many of our conceptions about faith. It destroys so many of our conceptions [37:39] about what we think following Jesus is all about. It destroys so many conceptions about what we [37:44] think an allowance for us to give Jesus this much of my life. But I don’t have to give Jesus [37:48] this much of my life. And if I give Jesus this much, then I’ll be okay with him checking it off [37:53] the list, checking it off the list, checking it off the list. But I’m going to do whatever I want

[37:56] over here. Jesus looks at us and he says, who do you think you are? Because some of us, we will even [38:04] have the audacity to try to take a double wide trailer and put it on the foundation of Jesus’ [38:12] mansion and say, everything’s okay. My house doesn’t fit on his foundation, but it’s okay. [38:21] And then as soon as a storm comes, washes your house right away.

[38:26] Because you have to build it according to his instructions, according to his design.

[38:33] Years ago, when a few tsunamis hit Asia, I was fascinated by the videos of it because it [38:41] wasn’t what the movies taught me it was. Kind of like, you know, quicksand. We thought that was [38:45] going to be a way bigger deal than it actually was. I still haven’t hit it. But a tidal wave [38:51] is not like this 600 foot wave up in the air that just falls on top of a city. No, it’s far more [38:57] subtle than that. Tidal waves really just starts as water coming too far inland and it’s up to [39:06] your ankles. And then 10 seconds later, it’s over your head and moving so fast that you’re

[39:12] a mile away from where you stood and you drown. I mean, it’s devastating in its subtlety. [39:19] And these videos have made their way to YouTube of people in Japan taking videos of a tidal wave [39:24] coming in. I was watching one one day and it was amazing. Terrible, but amazing. Still the same. [39:32] Where you just all of a sudden start to see water on a street that was dry and then you can’t see [39:37] the street anymore. Then you see cars going down forced by the water. And then by the end of the [39:44] video, you’re seeing roofs go down with the water. And it’s not that the roofs were detached.

[39:52] It’s that the house is underwater and it didn’t have a foundation because it was in an impoverished [39:59] area or poor people built it and didn’t have the means to give it a good foundation. [40:05] And you just watch this devastation as an entire village is just swept away [40:13] because they never thought it was going to happen.

[40:18] No one thinks their house is going to crumble in the storm. [40:22] We all assume everything’s going to work out in the end.

[40:29] Jesus wants you to deal with the stark and sobering reality that it might not.

[40:35] There’s no way for me to soften this blow. Jesus means to make you question your faith. [40:42] Jesus means to force you to do something that some of you have been avoiding for a very long time. [40:50] Jesus is forcing you to deal with whether or not you are actually one of his followers. [40:56] I know what’s happening in some of your minds right now. That inner defense attorney is starting [41:02] to rear his head and you’re thinking, well, no, because of this, no, no, no, no, no, I’m really [41:07] a believer. I’m really a Christian. No, no, no, no, no. Here’s the I think I am.

[41:15] If you have to convince yourself you’re a Christian,

[41:19] I want you to consider the reality that you aren’t.

[41:24] You shouldn’t have to convince yourself that you’re a Christian. You should just believe.

[41:33] So many times I’ve seen so many people be so foolish with their lives [41:39] where they just begin to weigh things out and they say, what more could God expect of me? [41:44] I must be a Christian. And there’s really no evidence.

[41:49] So, friend, you need to deal with the reality. How are you building your life? [41:59] Why are you doing the things that you’re doing? Why are you headed in the direction you are headed? [42:07] What is your mission? What is your purpose? Because my fear for you is that in reality, [42:16] none of the answers to those questions have anything to do with Jesus. And if we found out [42:21] tomorrow that the gospel isn’t true and that Jesus isn’t God, then nothing of your life would [42:27] change except that you would have a few more hours on Sunday morning to do whatever you want

[43:12] good enough for God. The only way that I can build a life on the foundation of Jesus is if I [43:20] believe that he came, lived a perfect life that I cannot live, died as a substitute for me, [43:27] paying the penalty for my sin, and then he rose from the dead to give me a new life. That’s the [43:33] only way I can begin to construct a life on his foundation. And it’s the only way you can do it. [43:39] Friend, if you’re in here and you’re struggling with doubt, if you’re in here [43:43] and you can’t really answer the question as to whether or not you’re building your life on the

[43:48] foundation of Jesus or you’re in here and you know that you aren’t, I don’t want you to feel like you [43:54] have to fake it. I don’t want you to come up here, go back there, and eat and drink and lie. I don’t [43:59] want you to do that. I want you to take a step of faith and maybe for the first time in your life, [44:03] I want you to be honest enough to admit you are not following Jesus. If that’s you, then in just a [44:09] moment I’m going to ask you to walk out into the foyer rather than eating and drinking. There’ll [44:14] be somebody there that loves you, that would love to talk with you, that would love to explain the

[44:19] gospel to you, that would love to pray with you. You can become a follower of Jesus today. Why [44:27] wouldn’t you? He loves you more than you can realize and he’s done everything that needs to [44:34] be done for you to begin to build a life on his foundation. But if you are a follower of Jesus, [44:41] I won’t put any barrier up that Jesus has torn down. Come, eat, drink, proclaim your faith in [44:47] God, then go and you better build a life on his foundation. When you’re ready, come.