I don't know if any of y'all went out last night for St. Patrick's Day. It's another thing this weekend. How many y'all celebrated St. Patrick's Day? A couple, not many, but some, and I didn't get to do anything for St. Patrick's Day, but this past summer I was in Dublin, Ireland, and got to go and see St. Patrick's Cathedral. And St. Patrick's Day is a day that now we kind of celebrate it, to have fun, wear green, and talk about Ireland. But St. Patrick, if you may know, he was an incredible, incredible man of God. He was a missionary from Britain to Ireland. He had an incredible passion and compassion for the lost and a passion to see the Church of God expanded. And I just wanted to share, since yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, one of my favorite quotes that St. Patrick had, you might have heard this, this one was most famous. It was on his shield. He wrote this when he was about to go share the gospel with the king of Ireland at this time. And this is just a portion of what Patrick wrote on his shield. He says, Christ is his prayer. Christ with me. Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ with in me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ above me. Christ at my right. Christ at my left. And my prayer is that this morning, that would be true of us. As we gather as His Church, and as we hear His Word, that Christ would be present and He would transform our hearts. So let me pray for us before we get into the Word together. So pray with me. Lord, we come and we ask, Lord, for you to speak to us, Lord, I ask that you, as you show us your truth, that you would brand it on our hearts and on our minds, that we may hear your voice, that we may hear you speaking spirit of God, would you speak to us? And would anything that I might say that is not of you be quickly forgotten? And would anything and everything that is said of you be forever remembered of God, that we may be changed as a result of your Word. We thank you that your Word is living. It's active. And so, Lord, we pray that it would change us. It's your name, we pray. Amen. How many of y'all have heard of Galveston, Texas? Galveston, Texas, some of y'all have heard of Galveston, okay? Galveston, Texas. I've never really heard of Galveston's Texas before. It's a little island off the coast of Texas, part of Texas. Well, in Galveston, Texas, in the year 1900, one of the most devastating, most fatal storms ever in the history of our country came ashore. A lot of people were in Galveston, Texas, they were vacationing. It was a place to go, and there were no sirens, no warnings, nothing to warn people of storms. And all of a sudden, a category for hurricane comes out of the Gulf and comes from shore of Galveston, Texas. 130, 9 hour plus winds, and the highest death toll of any storm ever in our history, numbering somewhere around 8,000 people that were killed in the storm in Galveston, Texas. And if you were to go to Galveston, Texas today, most of this little island was destroyed, was annihilated. But one little part in the historic district now is a little avenue called the Strand that still exists. And there were a few Victorian era homes and a few buildings that lasted, that stood the winds, that was stood the water, that was stood the storm of 1900. And these buildings, these homes were homes that were very, very well constructed with foundations that were very, very deep, that allowed them to withstand the winds, that allowed them to withstand the rain. And we come to a part now in the terminal amount. If you've been with us, you know we've been going through the terminal amount. And we come towards the end, and the question that Jesus is asking us this morning is where is your foundation? What is your foundation? What is your life built upon? When the storms of life come, will you stand? Will you endure? Or will you be washed away? That's the question that Jesus is asking. And honestly, I have to pray this morning, and my prayer has been, as I've prepared for this, is that the same son of God who preached this 2,000 years ago would preach to us this morning, because I don't practice this very well, and I need to hear it. And so my prayers that Jesus would preach this yet once again to us, that we would be a church that reflects what Christ is talking about. So read this with me in Matthew 7. We're looking at 24 to 27. We're kind of wrapping up the terminal amount. Scott's going to kind of end it for us next week. So we're kind of doing a two-part ending. So read with Matthew 7, 24 to 27. This is God's Word. 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, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. 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 the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash. Jesus comes to the end here and he says, therefore, that therefore is a great indicator that he's talking about what precedes. And he's coming to the end of his sermon on the mountain. He's saying, therefore, everything you've heard me preach, everything I've said in this sermon, which in the Bible we have is from Matthew 5, which we've been going through over the past couple of months. Therefore, everything you've heard me say, and he's coming to the conclusion. Let me ask you a question. As you've been coming to the church, if you've been coming, you've heard this series on the sermon on the Mount. Some of y'all know this may be your first or second time here, but as you've heard the sermon on the Mount, as you've read the sermon on the Mount, how has it made you feel? How has the sermon on the Mount made you feel? Have you resented a little bit the sermon on the Mount and kind of gone, no way. There's no way I can live like that. Have you heard the sermon on the Mount and kind of just ignored it and gone, ah, and never really put it to practice. Have you become annoyed with the standards that Christ calls us to live within the context of His kingdom? How has it made you feel as you've heard this sermon that Jesus preached? How has it settled within your heart? Has it made an impact in your life? As we've gone through this, have you talked about it as a family? Have you applied it to your life? Because what are we coming to now as Jesus saying, therefore having heard all these things that I've said, these things are what matter. And He gives us two things, two things that I want us to see. Therefore having heard all these things, the first thing He says is, take heed. It's a warning. Take heed only one foundation will last. Only one foundation will last. Look in verses 24 to 26. In these two verses, in this whole parable, there's two men. Two men building two houses and the houses look almost identical. I mean, they're in the same location. They're experiencing the same conditions. These two men have the same desire. They want a dwelling place that their family can enjoy, that they can rest, but there's one big difference. There's one big difference, the foundation. One's built on rock and one is built on sand. One lasts and one does not. And so Jesus goes in to tell us what this foundation looks like. The foundation that lasts, what does it look like? The first thing that He tells us here in verses 24 to 26 is, the foundation that lasts is the one who hears the words of mine, Jesus says. The one who hears the words of mine and believes them, verse the one who hears the words of others and believes them. It's a difference between hearing the words of Christ and believing them or hearing the words of this world and other teachers and other whoever and believing them and laying your life and basing your life on the words of Christ, first the words of others. Jesus says of verse 24 to 26, anyone who hears these words of mine, anyone who hears these words of mine, Jesus is truth. Jesus is teaching us truth. He is the absolute truth in a society today that doubts there is absolute truth. Jesus is coming and He's saying, I am the truth. My words are true. And you must bank your life upon my words. And who I am, what do I mean by asking do you bank on the words of Christ or do you bank on the words of this world? Jesus, even in this sermon on the mount, I mean this whole text that we have here from Genesis to Revelation is the Word of God, the Word of Christ. But even just in this sermon on the mount, Jesus started and He said, blessed are the pouring spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Do we believe that blessed, truly happy, fully satisfied, completely fulfilled is the one who is broken, the one who is completely impoverished in their soul dependent on the Lord living the lowest, is the one that is the happiest, is the one that is the most fulfilled. Do we believe that? Do we live our lives like that? Or do we think that asserting yourself, being confident in your own ability, looking out for number one is what is true and what will make us the happiest and the most fulfilled. For the world tells us that what Jesus tells us is counter this world. Do we believe Jesus when He says blessed are you and people persecute you? Or do we think and believe the world and even some people in Christian circles that tell you, if you believe enough, if you have enough faith, you will be free from all your troubles. Do we believe the words of Christ and those to be true? Or do we believe the words of others in their world? Do we believe Jesus in the sermon when He says sin is so serious that if your left hand causes you to stumble, cut it off? Or do we believe this world that says, well, if you look and don't act, you're okay. If you think and don't speak, you're okay. Do we bank our lives on the truth of what Christ has taught us? Or do we live on what this world costs truth, which is false? I can remember when I was eight years old and I believed in Santa. I believed in Santa with all of my heart, even though all my friends, when I was eight years old, began to tell me Santa is not real. Santa is not real and I was going, Santa is real. Santa is real because my brother Travis, who's seven years older than me, he was 15, good age to pick on the eight-year-old little brother. And do what? Yeah. Okay, well, the kids are in here, but I, all right. Jerry's telling me the kids are in here, but I was going to kill my whole analogy, but we're going to have to go with it. So, yeah, my brother was telling me that Santa was not real or that Santa was real and that all my friends were telling me he wasn't. So, now Jerry, you got me all frustrated, man. What the heck? How can I continue with my analogy when you do that to me? You're like, cut me off. All right, should I continue or should I not continue? Okay, I'm going to continue. My brother told me that Santa was real. And so all the time I'm going, Santa is real and my friends are telling me they're not. And Christmas rolls around and I'm believing all my heart, Santa is real, my friends are telling me they're not. Christmas rolls around, my parents are in the front seat, my brother not in the back seat, my brother's 15, I'm eight. My brother points out the wind and goes, there's Santa. And I'm like, where and I look, I can run across and I look and he's like, oh man, you just missed him. You just missed him. And I'm like, man, I always miss Santa. And I go back on my side of the car, 30 minutes rolls around and he points out the wind and go, there's Santa. And I'm like, where? And I run over to that side. You just missed him. He just missed him. And I'm like, man, I always miss Santa. Christmas E rolls around and play with my toys. My brother's like, Santa's on the roof. Santa's on the roof. And I'm like, what I drop all I do and I go and I listen for Santa. And he's like, he's coming. He's coming. And he never comes. You see, I believed that Santa was real. And he was true because my brother told me he was real. And I respected my brother. I looked up to my brother. Even though all my friends told me he wasn't, I believed he was real. And all of us in this room, all of us in this church this morning, based our lives off the words of someone. All of us believe the words of someone and we believe it to be true and our lives are impacted based off the one in which we believe is true. And as some of us may think that this world, because we've read science books, we've read higher education in this world, these books have said the world was created with a big bang and it was created. But Genesis 1 tells us God spoke and this world came into existence. Which one do we believe? If sociologists tell us that church is a good thing to bring children to. It's a good thing to raise your kids in, but there's really no personal aspect to it. Which one do you believe is true? That there's a personal aspect for you. It's just good for your kids. This world tells us that girls, your appearance is what matters the most. How you appear physically is what matters the most. And that that's where you get your value. Yet Christ tells us your beauty comes from a gentle and quiet spirit. Which one do you believe? Do you allow this world to shape you in such a way that you're driven to make your body look away because you believe the lives of this world? Guys, do you gauge what manhood looks like from movies, from radio, from TV, from our culture? Or do you see what a man of God looks like from the word and live your life accordingly? Because that's what God calls us to live like. Where do you base your life on the truth of Christ, the words of Christ, or the words of this world? What is your world and life view? Either the truth of Christ in his word is shaping your whole world view. Or magazines, internet, TV, radio, higher education, self-help, anything else is shaping your world view. And either the words of Christ or the words of this world is impacting the way you live in your marriage, the way you raise your kids, the way you approach your job, the way you interact in relationships. A good sign for parents is what are your kids believing? What are they here you speak about? Do they hear you speaking about the words of Christ and laying that in their life? We either bank on the words of Christ or we believe the words of this world. The foundation that lasts is the foundation built on the words of Christ. And not always the foundation that believes in the words of Christ and acts on them is the one who practices versus the one who does not practice the words of Christ. Look, again, in verses 24 to 26. Jesus says, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them in to practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock in in verse 26. 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. Jesus is saying it's not enough. It's not enough just to hear the words of Christ. But the foundation that stands, this built on the rock is the foundation that puts the words of Christ in to practice. The one who hears and obeys, verse the one who hears and ignores. That's the difference. Now Jesus is not saying that we come into a right relationship, a saving relationship with Jesus Christ based on our works. My prayer and that Scott's prayer is that you would know in this church that you come into a relationship and you continue in a relationship with Jesus Christ by the grace and the mercy of Christ by believing on the finished work of Christ. There is nothing that we do, but it's all that Christ has done, that we come into a relationship with Him and it's the same way that we continue. We came into a relationship with Christ by believing through the Spirit of God, through His grace and in faith. We continue in the same way. We practice in the same way by grace through faith, through the Holy Spirit's power in our life. We look to Christ and as that happens, it flashes itself out in our life through obedience, through what we do and how we live. Jesus says here in this last part that Scott will look at next week, not everyone who cries out, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of God. It's not an intellectual ascent, but it's a one who calls out Lord and does the will of God who lives the words of Christ. That is the difference. Honestly, I fear the Christian subculture in the South of America. I fear it because we live in a society that you hear the gospel all the time. You hear Christian radio, Christian books, there's churches on every corner. And my greatest fear is that there will be so many people who have this intellectual ascent to the Lord yet there's not a rootedness in their heart that flashes itself out in life through obedience and through living with the Lord. It's a comfortable Christianity here in the South rather than a costly Christianity. It's whatever kind of meats our needs. And Jesus is saying there's two houses that look the same here. They look the same, but there's one big difference. The foundation. I don't know if any of y'all have seen the movie Breach. You've probably heard the story of Robert Hansen who is the story of one of the greatest, greatest espionage cases in all of US history. Robert Hansen was a CIA agent for 20 plus years, and he was one of the greatest minds in all of the CIA. And they began a growing suspicion that he might be a Russian spy. And so they asked Eric O'Neal, a young 22 year old guy to come into work with Robert Hansen to watch him, to be suspicious, to look for anything out of the ordinary. And by the way, Eric O'Neal just found this out. He was an Auburn graduate. So War Eagle. There you go. He was an Auburn grad. But Eric O'Neal was to look for anything that was out of the ordinary. And Eric O'Neal, as he spent time with Robert Hansen, grew this incredible admiration and adoration for Robert Hansen. He did his job beautifully. He was a very devout Catholic man. He was a very loyal family man of six kids. And O'Neal, as he watched this guy, Robert Hansen, he had this incredible respect for him because his life looked so great. And as things began to unravel, it became out that Robert Hansen was a Russian spy for over 20 years, that he was putting sexual videos of him and his wife on the internet, and that he was anything but religious. He was disloyal, unfaithful. And my fear is that many of us would live like Robert Hansen. That outwardly, we'd look the part. We look devout. We come and we hear and we even participate in activities. And all along, there's this unfaithfulness and this opposition to God within our heart that we're turning away from him. There's a difference between the Christian and the pseudo-Christian. There's a difference. The Christian and the pseudo-Christian have similarities as well. They both, like the house, can be in the same place. It can be within the church. Both can hear the same gospel message. Both can even desire the same thing, forgiveness and peace. But the difference is the foundation. You see, the pseudo-Christian kind of is in it for themselves. They're in it for themselves. Whatever meets their needs. They're too much in a hurry to really kind of mind the truth of God's word and they kind of buy the lives of other things. They don't want to think of God as holy and righteous. They only want to think of God as loving. And that's it. He is loving, but he's also holy and righteous. You see, the Christian in Luke 6 and the same account of the parable, Luke tells us that the Christian who's built on rock digs deep, digs deep and lays the foundation. And if you've ever been shoveling in your yard and you've hit a rock, you know it's hard. So the dig deep in the midst of rock is hard work. And to lay the foundation of Christ's truth is hard work. It's not easy. You know it. To get into his word, to study it, to memorize it is hard. It'd be a lot easier to sleep in Monday through Saturday, go to work, come back home, do your thing than to rise early to read his word, to have it written on your heart. It's a lot easier to sleep in Sunday mornings or to go and play golf or to go and exercise and come and be faithful to church and hear the word of God preach over and over. It's hard. It's hard because we live in a world that is opposed to the truth of Christ and everything's pulling us away. But I want to say to the Christian cheer up. Cheer up for our labor is not in vain. When we work hard and we lay the truth of Christ in our life, we will stand in the midst of the storm and will not be blown over and will not be destroyed. The foundation that lasts is the foundation built on the words of Christ and the one who puts them into practice by the grace and the mercy of God through the Holy Spirit. As a Jesus has taken heed, take heed only one foundation lasts. And then the second thing he tells us is rest assured, the storm will come. The storm will come. Looking verses 25 to 27, the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house. The storm came on both men. The storm will come in our life. Now, what do I mean by storm? Am I meaning the storms currently in our life or am I referencing the storm that will come in the judgment of God in the future? Well, I think Christ is teaching us it's both. It's the storms of this life and it's the storms of God's judgment in the future. Now, so let's first look at the storms that are now, the storms that are present. Jesus says you can bet that in this life, you will experience storms. You will experience pain, you will experience turmoil, you will experience trouble, the storms of disease, the storms of death, the storms of divorce, the storms of a lost job, the storms of a lost child, the storms of a broken relationship, they will come. For we live in a fallen and broken world in which sin has intruded, this world that we live in and Romans one tells us that creation longs and groans for the redemption of itself. We live in a fallen and broken world and so suffering and pain and death will come. You can bet on it for sin has intruded. And so Jesus is saying that the one who has their foundation on the rock when these storms of death and sickness come will stand, but the one who's built on sand will be destroyed. All of you know of people, I know of people who have had this ascent to the Lord, this faith in God, yet when tragedy or pain or death has come have completely turned their back on the Lord. Completely just did a 180 and walked away from the Lord forever. You probably know of people, you might have friends like that. That's the one on sand. I'm not saying there are faith never waivers by no means. Our faith is often like this, but the one who completely turns away from the Lord, the faith has been destroyed based upon the storms that have come. But there are many of you in this room, many of you in this room, when the storms have come and I have been there through in the midst of the storm with you, but the storms of death. I know many of you in here have experienced that, the storms of divorce, we've experienced that, the storms of parents not being there, the storms of your children wandering away and you're standing, you're enduring because you have built your life upon the truth of Christ. And you are a vision to us as younger people within the church of what our life is to look like, of what it means to work hard to lay your life upon the truth of Christ, so that when these things come we aren't blown over and destroyed, so that we stand because we believe the promises on the truth of Christ. You may know William Booth, William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army, and William Booth when he was in his 80s, his son came to him in his sickness and said, Dad, in a couple of days because of your sickness, you're going to go blind, completely blind, never be able to see again. And William Booth looked at his son and he said, you mean I'll never be able to see your face again? And his son said, Dad, you're not going to be able to see anything ever again. And William Booth took his son's hand and he said, son, God must know best. I've done what I could do for God and his people with my eyes and now I must do for God and his people without my eyes. That's a man who built his life on the truth of Christ. And when the storms came he was stood, he was stood the winds and the rain and he did not fall. The only one who stands in the midst of the storm is the one built upon Christ and his truth. Hearing and even putting into practice the words of Christ won't stop the storms. They're going to come. They're going to come. But Steve Brown, a seminary professor of mine and a preacher has a quote in which he says, when a pagan gets cancer, God lets a Christian get cancer so that the world can see the difference. You see when the storms of cancer, when the storms of death, when the storms of a strange relationship come to the Christian, they can say, blow. Blow the storm, blow for I'm not moving. For I don't look at this world, I don't believe the lies of this world, I believe the truth of Christ. The storms that will blow are present. They're in this life, y'all have experienced them. You will stand the storm when you're built upon the truth of Christ. There's also the storm of the future that Jesus is getting to here in this parable. The storm of God's judgment in the future. At the end of this sermon here, Jesus has been preaching all along and now towards the end he goes and he draws distinctions between the narrow and the wide gate, the good and the bad tree and now the foolish and wise builder. And he's saying that there's one that leads to life and there's one that leads to death. And he's talking about within the midst of eternity and the midst of eternity. It's the one who hears Jesus' words and puts them into practice by the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit, is the one that will experience life. But the one who hears and disobeys and ignores is the one in which Jesus says will be cast aside. Now do I want to scare any of y'all into a relationship with Christ? You may have never heard me preach before. I don't often preach about hell. I'm not a hellfire and brimstone type of preacher. But I will say that if scaring and fear makes you fall upon Jesus, then by all means be scared and be afraid. Jesus does not hold back here at the end of the sermon amount. He doesn't candy coat, make this palatable, make it easy, here you go. He drops the hammer. And he says those who have faith are the ones who hear my words and put them into practice for me, through my power. And so my prayer is that this morning if you don't know Christ, if you think storm of God's judgment would come and you would be swept away, that fall upon Christ and believe on Him and His work by His grace and by His mercy that you would do that. Take heed for only one at foundation will last. The storms will come, they definitely will come. The last two verses of this sermon on the mount, it's not really even Jesus's words anymore, verses 28 to 29. Matthew is writing and he says when Jesus had finished saying all these things when he finished preaching this sermon, the crowds were maged at his teaching. And because he taught as one who had authority, not as their teachers of the law. Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom of God, the whole summer amount, how to live in the kingdom, how to live in the midst of God's kingdom. And now Matthew says he taught as one who had authority, who has authority in the kingdom, who has authority in the kingdom, the king, the king. And Jesus is coming and he's saying I'm king. I'm king and you live in the kingdom and the call from the king to his citizens is loyalty. Is obedience out of a broken and contrite heart, the one who is poor and spirit, broken and dependent on God not boasting in their ability, but dependent on the Lord. That is the mark of love, the greatest sign of love to the king is a life of loyalty and obedience to the king. I have two pictures in my mind when I think of this. I think if you've ever seen the movie Last Samurai with Tom Cruise, he kind of joins this army of Samurai and at the end of the movie he comes before the Emperor of Japan. And he comes in and the Emperor is sitting at the back of the room. Tom Cruise comes with the Samurai sword and he comes and he just lays a sword at the feet of the king and he bows prostrate. As if to say Emperor, I'm at your mercy. My life is for you. Do with me as you wish. That's our call. As to come before the king of kings, Jesus Christ, to lay our life and go here I am, I can do no other do with me as you wish. I have another picture in my mind when I was in Thailand. We got a Thailand on break when I lived in China for a couple of years. And when we were in Thailand, we went to see movies all the time because they were in English in China. You can never see movies. And so my first experience at a movie theater in Thailand as we went, I was, we were in this movie that we went to, they had these huge recliners. I've been living in China for years. I was dirty. Now here I'm in Thailand living the life, watching the movie on a recliner. And all of a sudden this picture of the king of Thailand pops up on the movie theater and everybody in the movie theater stands up in the national anthem plays and everybody salutes the king of Thailand. And I'm like, what's going on? I'm not sure what's going on. What's happening? And that picture is the picture that we are to have times 50 towards Jesus Christ. That when we see Christ beat out my vision, high king of heaven, when we look and we see Christ, we stand and we say, do with me as you wish, may my life be lived in accordance with your will, with your desire. See, we don't have a tyrannical king, but we have a gracious king. A gracious king who came and he's gone before us and he hemmed us in behind. We have a king who can sympathize in our weakness, who's gone through the same storms that you've gone through that's been tinted in the ways that you've been tinted yet he was stood. And he suffered to the point of death and he rose again victorious. And we have a king who has promised that when he comes back a second time riding on the victorious horse and he establishes his kingdom, the storms of this life will be no more the pain, the death, the tears, he will wipe them all away. He will wipe them all away. And it's called to us until that day is loyalty, is obedience out of a broken and contrite heart that is overwhelmed with the goodness of a good king to us. See, Jesus didn't preach the sermon and we don't go through the sermon to be recognized. Jesus didn't preach it to be admired or to people to clap for him. He preached it to be obeyed. That's why he preached it. And my prayer is that by God's grace Christ's kingdom church will be of people characterized by loyalty to the king because we live broken and contrite hearts. Let me pray for us. Lord God, we thank you for your grace to us, so good king, that you have come, you've gone before and you him us in behind. And my prayer this morning is that Lord, our lives will be built upon the sheer bedrock of the truth of Christ. Lord, would any brother or sister that is here this morning be cheered up because they know your grace abounds to them. And it is hard work God in this world that lives counter to you to lay our lives upon Christ. So Lord, would we persevere, would we press on, would we look to you to be loyal to the king of kings and Lord of lords that our lives may look different than this world so that as people look and they see us as citizens of the kingdom that they may be drawn to believe. And the king that we serve, we thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's continue worship of the giving of our tie, the giving of our offering as we prepare to come to the Lord's table as well here in just a moment. Let his Holy Spirit search your heart and sing along with us when appropriate or just meditate. The hair of the Lord leads you during this time as we contemplate not only the demands that Jesus has in the sermon on the mount but we reminded of the grace and how he met the demands of the law by dying on a cross for us.