Avoiding Quicksand
James 1:22-1:25
Matthew 7:24-7:28
Good morning to those that are listening to us online-welcome to service. We are glad you’re here.
Prayer-
Please turn to Matthew 7:24-28
Matthew Chapters 5-7 is what is called “The Beatitudes”-
Jesus preaching series that was the best to be ever written.
He talked about worrying, asking, seeking, knocking to find the things of God.
He taught on what it would take to make it into the kingdom of God- what things could be sent up to heaven and what things would never enter the gates of heaven.
He taught on how we are not judge others and how we will be judged on judgment day
He had a lot to say about behavior and attitudes.
This is the one sermon that wraps it all together.
He talked about foolish people that never make wise decisions about the things of God.
Matthew 7:24-28 Read from Bible-
Jesus taught wherever He went and they had a choice of wither they were going to accept or reject the words He brought them.
People today have the same choice.
None of us in USA will stand before Jesus and say that they did not know that they needed to make a decision for or against accepting Christ as Lord.
Jesus taught with authority!
They “were astonished.” Other translations will have “amazed or astounded” This word in the Greek is used 4 times in Matthew and at a total of 13 times in the NT confined to the Synoptic Gospels and Acts.
Every time this word is used, it is always concerning the people or the disciples at the teaching of Jesus or His miracles.
WHAT WAS SO AMAZING? He could back up everything He spoke to them.
He demonstrated His authority over nature. He calmed a storm.
He had authority over demons and cast them out.
He had authority over disease and sickness and healed people.
He had authority over death and came back from the dead
He said He would come back and that is soon going to happen!
Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” Customize this se
Jesus did not leave it to the crowd to perceive his authority. He claimed it!
Nothing matters more than people coming to Christ for salvation and then those people becoming disciples—not just members of the crowd. (Repeat)
When Jesus went up to a mountain to deliver his sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, there were two groups of people: the crowd and the disciples.
Matthew 5:1-2 –“Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.”
This should be familiar to you, I have taught from this verse. There is a large crowd of people and a small group of disciples. And although the large crowd is present and listening, Jesus seems to be speaking to the smaller crowd. He was preaching to His disciples.
The “crowd” was a group of people who liked Jesus. Know anyone like that?
They were fascinated with Him, intrigued by His words and actions.
Wherever Jesus went, there they were. The crowd was aware of His healing powers and miraculous works, and they wanted to get in on that.
They were caught up in the excitement and didn’t want to miss anything.
And then, there are the disciples. This is a smaller group of people who don’t just like being around Jesus but have decided to trust and follow Jesus.
So, when Jesus sits down on a mountain to teach about the way to live life in the kingdom of God, He is speaking to those who are a part of the kingdom – His disciples.
The crowd is listening, but they are not getting it!
The crowd isn’t the goal
Finding out which one are the wise, and which are the foolish!
To the world, they may look the same but to Jesus He knew the difference. To Jesus one is curious and to the others He saw commitment.
To some they knew he spoke with authority but they were not going to bow to his authority and change their life- so when he look for commitment to follow him, he knew who would go and who would stay. Jesus wants us to trust and follow Him, not just hang around him when it is convenient and safe.
So back to the text verse- Matthew 7:24- “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.” (26) “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand.”
So from a saying from the movie Major Payne- “Who’s the dummy now!”
The foolish build their lives on sand and it will one day come tumbling down. They had heard the message and did not follow, they only watched in the crowd. They were only curious and did not want a life change.
The wise built their lives on the Rock (Jesus) and on a firm foundation their lives may have troubles but their life will not tumble down under pressure because they are on a firm and solid foundation.
Hearing is not enough.
“Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying”
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God
Faith comes by taking God’s word into your life and responding!
The crowd and the disciples heard the sermon. His preaching even amazed the crowd but most did not respond or even go to the next level and follow and pursue Him.
And the consequences of their decision is…eternal.
Those who hear Christ’s words but refuse to trust and follow Him will ultimately see their lives fall like a home without a solid foundation on sand.
But those who do trust and follow Jesus will be like a house built on a rock.
Solid foundation that when the wind blows and the storm comes, the house will not fall.
Step out of the crowd
Over the past 17 years of pastoral ministry here, I’ve discovered there are a lot of people in the crowd. Jesus is looking for followers.
Jesus did not say come check me out…He said follow me!
One life you do not have a firm foundation and you refuse to build upon the Rock of Christ and your house may be standing but one day the winds are going to blow and it will be too much for you to hold up and it will come crashing down-
The storms are going to come in every person’s life. We do not know when and we do not know if we will be able to sustain it. The storms of life are not what you want to go through in your own strength and your own wisdom. Jesus is offering Himself to you this morning and asking you to follow Him. The storms may still be blowing but it won’t be in your own strength and the foundation that you will be standing on will be rock solid!
Some of us have experienced those winds and by the grace of God we are still standing! It is the foundation and where you are putting your trust.
James 1:22-25-
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- he will be blessed in what he does.”
We must not stop with only hearing (or studying) His words. Our hearing must result in doing. This is what it means to build on the rock foundation.
It is not the works that save you. But because of our salvation, because of what Jesus has done for us, because of the Holy Spirit and the word of God living within us, obedience to the words of God is not an option, it is something we live out day in and day out.
Our faith, our salvation is shown by the works of the Holy Spirit.
The fool in Scripture is not necessarily the person who lacks information. It is the person who does little or nothing with the information received.
Doing and living out the word, Jesus likens to wise man:
Some storms we see coming.
Some storms we expect
Storms we never expected are the ones that bring us down.
A tee shirt on sale on Amazon from a pro-choice group says “If Mary had had an abortion we would not be in this mess.”
We are in trouble because the heart of man is deceived into believing they can save themselves without Jesus and it is quicksand and they are slowly sinking and going in over their heads and soon they will realize that they can no longer get out!
We are in trouble when you think that you can mock God with our personal opinions that go against His word.
This world (the crowd) better get their head out of the sand before they get buried in the sand
This is quite an audacious claim, unless he actually had the authority to make it.
Jesus did not give his skeptics much room to maneuver in their opinion of who he was—he was either everything he says he was … or he was nothing at all.
Jesus must be fully accepted or fully rejected, for no “good moral teacher” would say the astonishing things Jesus did unless they were true.
Jesus is God’s Son. And Jesus words has authority as we read in the scriptures:
Matthew 7:24 (NKJV) “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
Song- Solid Rock by preacher Edward Mote in 1837
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils his lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath, his covenant, his blood
Supports me in the 'whelming floods
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
That is not scripture but it is filled with Godly principals that will draw you to the hope of our salvation and our hope to help us journey in this life till we go home to be with Him. AMEN!
Who is the smart one? That is the question after looking at this verse- it is the one that builds his life on Jesus.
He is the one that builds his foundation on the foundation of Christ and doesn’t build it on his own opinions.
What he like or doesn’t like.
What he agrees with or doesn’t agree with.
It is built on the truths of God.
Close-
Apostle Paul chose to be a fool for Christ.
To live for Christ.
To serve Christ.
To preach Christ.
To suffer for Christ.
To be defamed for Christ.
And, if necessary, to die for Christ.
Ken Weliever
It’s a great lesson for us today. The world doesn’t understand it when we give up pleasure, power, prestige, and position because of our Faith. To the unbeliever, it seems absurd. Unreasonable. Foolish.
However, like Paul, we “know in whom we have believed.”
We’ve experienced the blessings in Christ.
Witnessed the cleansing power of His blood.
Felt the peace of forgiveness.
Enjoyed the brotherhood of believers.
And faced life’s obstacles with the hope of better tomorrow in eternity.
In the words of the martyred missionary Jim Elliot, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Prayer-
