I am sure that most of you feel the same way I do: we could go home right now and know that our Lord has been very, very merciful and gracious to us.
Sometimes I think that we expose ourselves to too much, because we are going to be responsible to put into practice the things that He has spoken to us. That is going to be the challenge.
I know that when we go home, we will be faced with many, many things that will get our hearts and minds headed in a different direction. But may the Holy Spirit take what has already been spoken, and whatever the Lord chooses to speak tonight, and write it very, very clearly on our hearts. May He do it in such a way that, when we go home, something will draw us again and again to this very important matter.
This is something too often neglected among us as the Lord’s people. It is very evident from what our two brothers have shared that this matter of the kingdom of God—of walking worthy of this kingdom—is very, very much in the heart of our Lord.
Let us trust Him tonight that, as we continue to fellowship in His Word, He will enlarge our capacity. May we have a capacity, enabled by the Holy Spirit, to receive whatever else He has in His heart to share with us.
We know that the Holy Spirit has used this verse in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 to direct our hearts into this matter of walking worthy of God, Who has called us to His kingdom and glory.
It is a great encouragement, my brothers and sisters, to know that this matter of walking worthy of the kingdom and glory of God originated with Him. It is not some idea that human beings have come up with. He has called us. He initiated this whole matter and, in some way, has been able to get through to our darkened hearts.
Maybe, when we received the very beginning of this process of His great salvation, we did not have the slightest idea that it involved being in, functioning in, and reigning in the kingdom of God.
This is a great and holy and high calling. I trust we will never, ever get free of that sense inside of us: the Creator of heaven and earth, almighty God, the sovereign Lord, has called us to come, participate, and have responsibility in this matter of His kingdom.
Much has been said by my two brothers, and I am so grateful for them. You noticed last night that there were a lot of gaps left to be filled—many things that needed to be said about Matthew 5 that did not get said by me. But the Lord, in His great mercy, seems to have filled in some of those gaps through what our brother Dana shared and what our brother Stephen shared. We are deeply grateful for His mercy to us.
A number of years ago, I heard a brother give a definition of the kingdom of God. If I remember rightly, his name was Congdon, and I think his first name began with a D. His definition was: “Jesus is the King, and we are the dumbs.”
That comes pretty close to defining what is involved in the government of God.
Our heavenly Father, out of perfect wisdom, has appointed His own Son to be King in His kingdom. You and I, by the working of the Holy Spirit, have been brought into a knowing relationship with Him.
There is much that needs to grow in our knowing of Him. He is, in a sense, unknowable. In Ephesians 3, Paul said that he had been sent to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable, unsearchable, inexhaustible riches of Christ. We have only taken a little baby step.
But it is my understanding, brothers and sisters, that we are going to spend eternity doing one thing: getting to know Him in a fuller way.
Being called into the kingdom of God means that we need to learn the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, being God’s King.
“All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth.”
—Matthew 28:18
All authority—I underline all—in heaven and on earth has been given unto Him. He has a name that is above every other name.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to take the words of caution that we will read tonight, and take them seriously:
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 7:21
You and I need a fuller, clearer, deeper understanding of what it means for Jesus Christ to be the Lord. If He is Lord, then we are totally at His mercy. We are His servants. Our whole life is to be focused on obeying Him.
Perhaps we need to let the Holy Spirit move us into a fuller dimension of what it means for Jesus to be Lord. We need to be careful—perhaps more than a little careful—about how we use this word, Lord, kurios. Sometimes we use it too lightly.
The kingdom of God is God’s sovereign, righteous rule over all that He has created. This is His government. It is called the government of God, the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven.
God has set His throne in the heavens, and from there it is His intention to extend His government to this planet Earth. As far as I can tell from reading the Scriptures, this is the only place in the whole created universe where God’s government is not a full and complete reality.
You know what the major problem is? Us.
We are the instruments. We are the place where God begins this work—in your heart and in my heart. This matter of knowing and identifying the Lord Jesus as our Lord is of utmost importance.
When we say that, we acknowledge that we need somebody other than ourselves to be in charge of our lives. We need to be under somebody’s government. We have all proved, to one degree or another, that we are total failures in ruling and governing our own lives.
We have heard about another kingdom: the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of this world. We know who is king there. Tonight, we do not want to enter into a fellowship about how he became king in that kingdom of darkness. But he is the rival king.
All that is happening in the universe now is directed toward defeating that rival king and establishing, one hundred percent and without exception, the sovereign rulership of God through His Son, Who is the King, by the Holy Spirit.
But there is another kingdom that we need to acknowledge. It came into reality when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in direct disobedience to God’s will.
Adam had no problem understanding that he was not to eat of that tree. God told him very clearly:
“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
—Genesis 2:17
Something of great tragedy occurred when Adam made that choice, knowing he was disobedient to his God. Whatever motivated him, he made a serious mistake, committed a very serious sin, and introduced into the human race the same poison we see operating in God’s arch-enemy, Satan.
That poison found its way into the heart and life of every descendant of Adam, without exception.
“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”
—Romans 3:23
Why did man sin? Why did you and I sin? How did you learn to sin? Did you go to Sinning 101 and take a course in learning how to sin? I do not think so. It came naturally.
We sinned because we were sinners. Something operates in our fallen nature that, when free to influence our lives, will always cause us to do something contrary to the will of God.
Therefore, there is another rival kingdom: the kingdom of self.
I have a book in my library written by a brother named Earl Juby, entitled The Kingdom of Self. The title of the first chapter is very interesting: “His Majesty the Baby.” Right from the beginning, there is something inherent in a child that wants its own way.
I have shared before about my son Benjamin. On the day he was born, I was in the delivery room with my wife, Isabel. Less than an hour after he was born, the nurse laid him on a table to change his diaper. He clenched his fists and turned red. He did not think it was a good idea.
I cannot explain it. I am only telling you what I observed with my own eyes. I said to him, “Young man, you have a lot of lessons to learn.” I did not know then that Dad had a lot more lessons to learn too.
There was no opportunity for Isabel or me to teach him that reaction. He did it because of what was inside him.
This is a kingdom that also needs to be overcome. The king there is a tyrant. He always wants his own way. He will do all kinds of things in order to try to get his own way.
I hope your eyes have been opened to see that the biggest obstacle to you and me living in the reality of the kingdom of God is the person we look at in the mirror every morning when we get up, brush our teeth, and comb our hair. He—or she—is the biggest obstacle.
Why did our Lord Jesus say that, if we want to be His disciples—if we want to learn to live in the kingdom—these are the conditions? First, we have to learn to say no to that tyrant king, that self.
You cannot merely tell him no one time. There has to be some force to it. You have to be insistent.
Maybe this is not true with you, my brothers and sisters, but the Lord has opened my eyes to see that there are areas in my life like strongholds. In order to keep self in the position of death, so that resurrection life can come forth, I have to put my foot on his throat and keep him in that death position until he stops breathing.
The biggest hindrance to me living in the reality of the kingdom of God is not the world. It is not the kingdom of darkness, though those are issues to be dealt with. I found out that he is living right inside me.
By the help of the Holy Spirit, I have to learn to say no to him—to deny him—and take up my cross and follow our Lord Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus mentions righteousness a number of times in Matthew 5. Can I say to us tonight that the God we have come to know in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is obsessed with righteousness? He cannot settle for anything less.
Why? I am so glad that our God is a perfectionist, that He will not settle for anything less than absolute righteousness according to His standard of righteousness.
Do you want to live the way you are tonight for eternity? Nobody answering, huh? Do you want to live the way you are right now and never have any changes?
Oh, my dear brothers, I am not satisfied for you to stay that way, because I have to live with you for eternity. And you had better pray that Ernie Hyle does not stay the way he is, because you do not have an option—you have to spend eternity with me.
God’s desire is to make us like His Son: to conform us, transform us, and form us to be like His Son.
Hallelujah! One day, by the pure mercy and grace of God, I expect to stand before this holy, righteous God and hear Him say to me, “You are My son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Not because of anything I am doing, but because this is what He has predestined us to be: exactly like His Son.
My dear brother and sister, may you never go another day without saying, “Lord, amen to what You have predestined us to: to be conformed to the image of Your Son, righteous in every way.”
God had to do something about our unrighteousness—the acts of unrighteousness that we committed—because He is a righteous God. He cannot ignore unrighteousness in His universe, nor can He ignore it in the lives of His people.
He had to find a way to justify us, to declare us righteous, as if we had never committed any sin at all.
His justification means that He has totally discharged us from all violations of His will. As our brother said this morning, He has taken our sins and removed them from us as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again.
Hallelujah, my brothers and sisters! Because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus, you and I can stand before this holy, righteous God. He can look at every aspect of our lives, but He will not see any sin that has been confessed and put under the blood.
I hope you and I will never, ever, under any circumstance, through words, conduct, or anything else, belittle or devalue the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know it is the only way He can forgive us? He cannot forgive you merely because you cry a lot. He cannot forgive you because you make promises never to do it again. The only way He can forgive you is to look at the blood of His own Son—His righteous Son, His perfect Lamb without blemish.
That blood has been taken by our High Priest into the very holy of holies before this holy God. When He looks at the blood, He can say, “You are forgiven. You are justified. Just as if you had never committed one sin at all.”
But God is not satisfied to stop there. He not only wants us to have a righteous standing before Him; He wants to see a righteous character in the lives of His children. This is why Christ has to be formed in us.
This is forever. It is difficult for us to wrap our minds around that. How long is forever? How do you measure it? But after that, there is no chance for change. God is going to do it perfectly, so that the issue will be settled when we are ushered into the age to come.
God will be able to look at you and me with eyes that see everything, and He will not see one thing wrong in our lives.
How can this be? I cannot explain it, except that this is the work of sanctification: to sanctify us, conform us, and glorify us.
To be glorified does not mean that you are somebody with all this light inside you, attracting attention. No, brothers and sisters. To be glorified means that God can look at you and be one hundred percent pleased.
Only God the Holy Spirit, on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, can do a work in us so that God can look at us faultless and without blame.
“To present you faultless before the presence of His glory in exceeding joy.”
—Jude 24
There is a lot involved in being called into His kingdom.
God has a work that He is doing, and something for His redeemed, righteous people to be involved in for eternity: reigning with His Son forever and ever.
“He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.”
—Revelation 3:21
I am not very informed about what that will involve, but I think it will involve you and me having very responsible positions in the age to come.
What kind of people does God need to put in positions of responsibility? Are you ready yet? Some of us have trouble tying our shoes or balancing our checkbook.
But this matter of being conformed to the image of Christ means that, with this character formed in us, we become qualified by His doing. Please do not think for one moment that you and I can produce this result.
How long would it take you to make yourself like Jesus? You could take Him as your model and work twenty-three hours a day, using all your resources and energy, determined to make yourself like Jesus. After a thousand lifetimes, how far would you have gotten? You would not have made any progress at all.
There is only One Who can do this. How does He do it? He puts the life of His own Son inside us, and then He puts that life under discipline.
Life plus discipline produces the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what the Holy Spirit has been sent to do. Unless this is produced in us, there is no hope for you and me to have a place of function in the kingdom.
Tonight, we want to look at Matthew 6 and Matthew 7.
I probably need to apologize for choosing such a great amount of material and having such limited time in which to fellowship about it. But, as I have counted it, there are 110 verses in these three chapters of Matthew, and 107 of them were spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself.
They were not a report by someone else. They were not another person’s interpretation of what He meant to say. I know because I have a red-letter edition of the Bible: Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7—110 verses, and 107 are in red.
It is the impression in my heart that these are the greatest words ever spoken on this planet.
You might disagree with me, but I believe that if these words are listened to, understood, and obeyed, they will prepare you for what God has planned in the age to come. I do not know another place in the Word of God where you find it all in such compact form, spoken by none other than the King Himself.
It would be profitable for us to give ourselves to reading, meditating, ruminating, and, by the help of the Holy Spirit, putting into practice the words that our Jesus speaks here.
I hope these verses will lay hold of your heart in such a way that you can never get away from them again. I hope they grip your heart so that some of you go home and memorize all 110 verses.
I am planning to ask the Holy Spirit to help me memorize these 110 verses, however long it takes. Not because I want to display how much I have memorized, but because it will give me opportunity to take what our Lord Jesus has said and ruminate on it.
Ruminating is a word used to describe how cows digest their food. Cows eat and eat and eat; then they lie down and chew their cud. They are ruminating. The food they have taken in is brought back, and they chew it all over again.
If we memorize these verses, read them, meditate on them, and do so with the clear understanding that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we will put them into practice, then they will become part of us.
Let us not forget what our brother Stephen said this morning: living the reality of Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7 is humanly impossible. There is one Man Who has done it—the King—and that is why He is the King.
What is the Christian life? What does God expect from you and me? How can we live and walk worthy of the kingdom if we are totally disqualified?
God is not playing games with us. It is true that you cannot do it by yourself. The rival king living inside you will do everything he can to prove that he can do it. But God, in His great love, designs our lives in such a way that we go through Romans 7.
It is not God’s will for us to live in Romans 7. But if we are going to get to Romans 8 experientially, we need to go through Romans 7.
Paul came to a great discovery:
“For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.”
—Romans 7:18
God had to frustrate Paul over and over again, because this man, even as a believer, was determined that he could pull it off on his own.
Then Paul came to the end of himself:
“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?”
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
—Romans 7:24-25
Then comes Romans 8:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.”
—Romans 8:1-2
This new law—the law of the Spirit of life—is the life of Christ inside us. If it is free to influence the way we think, talk, and live, then in reality it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me.
This is kingdom living: Christ once again living His life in us and through us. When this becomes reality, we can live in the reality of what our Lord Jesus teaches in Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
Humanly, naturally, of Adam: impossible. But by God’s doing, we are in Christ Jesus, and He is in us.
“Abide in Me, and I in you… for apart from Me ye can do nothing.”
—John 15:4-5
If you are in the middle of the experience Paul describes in Romans 7, I trust the Lord will turn up the heat a little bit and hasten the process by which you come to the end of yourself. Stop trying to do what is impossible for you to do.
It is the difference between elephants and butterflies. As far as I know, except for Dumbo, elephants cannot fly, and a butterfly cannot pick up five hundred pounds. One has elephant life, and the other has butterfly life.
No matter what you do to an elephant, it will never fly. No matter what you do to a butterfly—give it injections or make it exercise—it will never pick up what an elephant can pick up.
My dear brothers and sisters, inside of you, by the gift of God and by the working of the Holy Spirit, is the very life of Christ—the King Who lived in the reality of the kingdom and demonstrated it in every way during His life on earth as a Man.
Because of that, it is now possible for those who believe in Him and take their place in Him to learn how to live this kind of life.
If you live another fifty years trying to produce the Christian life by yourself, you will end up in the same place. You can increase the number of meetings you attend, read your Bible more, give more money—whatever else—but you will end up in the same place.
Give it up tonight. Right now, send up a prayer:
“Lord, I want to live this life that Paul talks about in Galatians 2:20: no longer I, but Christ Who lives in me. I want to know the reality of that.”
Once you make that prayer, get a hold of the boat, because the Holy Spirit will begin to arrange practical opportunities for you to learn how to die to yourself. And if you think that is easy, you have another thought coming.
Self is like an air mattress. You push it down here, and something comes up there. You push that down, and something else comes up somewhere else. This self is multi-headed.
I once looked in Webster’s Dictionary to see how many times the word self is used. More than four hundred times. That in itself ought to call our attention to the fact that this is a problem.
But hallelujah, God has a solution. It is not the one we like, but it is the one that works: say no to self. Every time he sticks his head up, say no to him. If you have to, put your foot on his throat. Keep him in that death position until he stops breathing.
The Holy Spirit will help you. He will point out where the problem is. He will give you strength to put to death the deeds of the body. He has been sent to do this. He is your Helper.
Let us come to Matthew 6.
“Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father Who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 6:1
First of all, beware of practising your righteousness in the wrong way.
In Matthew 5, our Lord Jesus says that we are to be the light of the world. He is the light, but when His life indwells us, that same life produces light.
“Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 5:16
God wants there to be a manifestation of righteousness. He wants us to practise righteousness. But He warns us not to practise it in order to be noticed by men.
The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was self-righteousness. They were concerned with what could be seen on the outside. But God desires righteousness that issues from the indwelling Christ by the Holy Spirit. This inward righteousness is manifested in the practical living of our lives.
“Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
—Matthew 5:20
“When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.”
—Matthew 6:2
Our Lord begins by speaking about the discipline of giving—giving to those who are in need. But the Pharisees had their own way of doing it. If they were wealthy enough, they hired someone to blow a trumpet. Then, after getting everybody’s attention, they gave money to the poor person.
The Lord says, “Do not get caught up in that kind of thing.”
“But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
—Matthew 6:3
That is pretty secret. You are doing it before the Lord, not to impress people, but as a manifestation of the righteousness of God in that particular situation.
“And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.”
—Matthew 6:5
It is wonderful that the Lord has opened our eyes to see the beauty of the participation of the members of the Body when we gather together. But with it come difficulties, and this is one of them.
We may pray in order to impress people with our long prayers and glowing words. We listen to how other people pray and memorize their way of praying. But the Lord Jesus says, “Do not get caught up in that.”
When you pray, even if you are in a meeting, go into your closet and close the door. Do not leave the door open so that people can still hear you. Go into the closet and pray to your Father Who is in heaven.
That is a challenge when we are gathered with other brothers and sisters. If you are the one praying, are you in your closet, praying directly to Him? Or do you address Him and then turn around and talk to all the brothers and sisters? Sometimes we even preach sermons in our prayers.
This is not the manifestation of righteousness that God desires among His people. If you are doing it for the applause of men rather than the applause of God, you already have your reward.
“And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
—Matthew 6:7
Be simple and real. Your Father already knows what you need. Talk to Him as your Father. Do not change your vocabulary or create an artificial tone of voice. Remember Who you are talking to, but do not manufacture religious language.
Giving and praying are practices of righteousness. We need to pray, especially when we are together. But we need to be careful not to pray in a way that seeks the applause of those who are listening.
“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance.”
—Matthew 6:16
Fasting is another discipline through which righteousness is manifested. We are not to use it to impress other people.
Fasting means cutting things out of our lives that are taking up too much place and having too much influence on us. It does not have to be food alone. It can be television, sport, or something else that needs to be trimmed away.
If we pray, give, or fast in order to impress people, the Lord calls us hypocrites—play actors using the right words, perhaps, but seeking the attention of human beings.
“Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life.”
—Matthew 6:25
Anybody here totally free of worry? The Lord says three times, “Do not worry. Do not worry. Do not worry.” But guess what? We do not obey Him.
If you took the same amount of time you use worrying and applied it to reading, meditating, and ruminating on Matthew 5, 6, and 7, you would see better results than you get from worrying.
Worry produces gray hair and ulcers, and I do not think we need either one.
Most of our worry is rooted in fear and unbelief. If we look closely at it with the help of the Holy Spirit, we may discover that our worry is sin—a distrust of our God.
Our Lord gives a wonderful solution:
“But seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
—Matthew 6:33
Instead of spending your time worrying, spend your time seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then the things you worry about—what you will eat, what you will wear, where you will live, and the other details—will be supplied.
Does our heavenly Father not already know about these things?
“Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?”
—Matthew 6:26
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
—Matthew 6:28-29
Every hair on your head is numbered—not merely counted, but numbered. He cares deeply and intimately about every area of your life. If He feeds the birds and clothes the flowers, do you think He will not care for you?
We need to confess our unbelief. When we worry, it is a manifestation of unbelief, usually rooted in fear. We are afraid that He will not come through because we are believing in Somebody Whom we cannot see. We must do it by faith.
This is kingdom living. This is walking worthy of the kingdom.
Our brother Dana shared last night about the shaking that is taking place. Some of you could testify concerning what happened to your nest egg—the money set aside to get you through a rainy day, your security. For some, it is totally gone.
This ought to be a lesson and a wake-up call. The Holy Spirit is here to help us change. Let us acknowledge that we have put our trust in places that are shakable.
There is a solution: seek first. Do not seek things as the Gentiles seek them. Turn your focus to seeking, first of all, priority number one in your life, the will of God—the kingdom of God, God’s will being done in your life.
If that is not your first priority, you are vulnerable. Your priorities are somewhere else.
It is not merely a matter of money. What about the twenty-four hours you have in your day? How have you prioritized those hours? Some say, “I do not have enough time.” But there are still twenty-four hours in every day.
The problem is that other things become more important to us than the things we know should have priority.
God is full of mercy, but we cannot expect Him to violate the principles He has established. This is a spiritual law: seek first. Put at the top of your list:
“Lord, I want to know Your kingdom. I want to know what righteousness is. I want to manifest this righteousness in the way I live. This is most important to me.”
Find a time and a place, before this matter leaves your heart, and settle the issue once for all:
“Lord Jesus, my life belongs to You. I have been bought with a price. Spirit, soul, and body, I belong to You. My time belongs to You. My possessions, my money—everything belongs to You. You are my Master and my Lord.”
Maybe it would be good to write out the place you want the Lord Jesus to have in your life every day, and then regularly renew that commitment.
When you do that, the Holy Spirit will come rushing into your situation to help you in unbelievable ways—to reorganize and reprioritize your life.
We spend much of our time doing things that are not important, while the things that should be at the top of the list get pushed to the bottom, and sometimes never get done.
I remember a brother from a remote part of Africa who visited Chicago. He had not seen much of civilization. A sister took him to a ten-story department store and left him there for several hours. On the way home, she asked, “What did you think about that big department store?”
He said, “I think you people here have many things I do not need.”
That is what the world is always doing: trying to create things we do not need, convincing us to spend our money on them.
My wife Isabel used to observe houses with garages while the cars were parked outside. She asked, “Why?” The garages were full of things people did not need, leaving no room for their cars.
Our Lord wants to set us free from worry. If worry has become a major problem in your life and you go to a doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist, perhaps the prescription will be sedatives or some kind of medication.
But here is the Lord’s prescription, and it costs nothing:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”
“Be not anxious for the morrow.”
—Matthew 6:33-34
Today, learn to trust Him. Put Him first. Do what you understand the Holy Spirit is communicating that He wants you to do for that day.
Let us come to Matthew 7.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
—Matthew 7:1
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.”
—Matthew 7:6
“All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
—Matthew 7:12
“Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction.”
—Matthew 7:13
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 7:21
“Every one therefore that heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.”
—Matthew 7:24-25
I wish I had more time to develop this, but at the end of these three chapters our blessed Lord says something that ought to grab hold of our hearts.
He has simplified it. He who hears these words—Matthew 5, 6, and 7—and acts upon them is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.
Do you want a guarantee that, regardless of what happens in this world, your life will stand? If a tsunami hit the coast of New Jersey and swept up into New York, would your life stand?
What I understand our blessed Lord to be saying is this: read, meditate, ruminate, and put into practice what I have said from Matthew 5 through the end of Matthew 7. What will be the result? You will build a house on a rock, and it will stand every test that comes.
Is there anywhere else that even comes close to offering that? The One Who spoke these words is Truth Himself. He would not merely speak words for the sake of speaking words.
How can we find out whether it is true? Put it into practice. You and I can begin tonight. Read, read, read. Meditate. Ruminate. Think about it. Consider it. Let the Holy Spirit arrange opportunities and give you the strength and grace to put it into practice.
The result will be that you are building your house on a rock.
Maybe you have been building in the wrong way. Hallelujah, our Lord is in the business of changing those things. You can tear down the old superstructure and let Him begin to build a foundation upon which your house can stand anything.
Have you ever found anything in all written history that says the same thing our Lord Jesus says here? Is there something you can do by reading, understanding, meditating on, and acting upon these 107 verses, with the result that you will have a life able to stand every test here and a life that prepares you to spend eternity ruling and reigning with the Son of God?
I do not think you will find it anywhere else.
My encouragement is not only to you, but to me as well: we need to prove this and see whether it is true.
Certainly, it cannot be done by human effort. But this is part of our salvation: to be in the kingdom, to see the kingdom, to live in the kingdom, to walk in that kingdom, and to walk worthy of that kingdom.
Let us be encouraged. Find a time. Find a place. Settle this issue with Him.
Whether you are a brand-new believer or have been walking with Him for a long time, you can settle this issue. If you have not been fulfilling what our Lord Jesus says here, let us be encouraged.
Maybe a few of you can pray.