Pastor Scott Andrews | July 7, 2024
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Luke 6:46-49
Turn in your Bibles to Luke 6. We’ve been in this chapter awhile. This is our eighth and final time in Jesus’ sermon called the Sermon on the Plain. And so, over the past several weeks, we have been listening to these powerful, life-changing words.
Well, they are intended to be life-changing words. In this message, Jesus has been inviting us to respond. You see, it’s not enough to just hear the message – it’s not enough to know it – it’s not enough sit here over the past couple months and think, wow, this is really good stuff. No, we’ve got to do something about it. So, Jesus is extending an invitation – it’s time to decide. Will you follow, or will you just listen, maybe even be amazed by the teaching of this itinerant rabbi, without it changing your life? You see, the bottom line is – will Jesus be the Lord of your life, or are you just counting on Him as Savior – a ticket out of hell? You might be interested to know Jesus is referred to as Savior 17 times in the NT – but He’s referred to as Lord over 400 times. Where’s the emphasis?
If you have been with us, you know Jesus began this sermon with some startling word – and He’s going to end it that way. It was near the beginning of His ministry – perhaps a year in. He’d just spent some time on a mountain, came down and selected the Twelve who would be His apostles. Things were going great. The Twelve were there, the disciples were there, the crowds were there. We’re talking hundreds if not thousands of people. News about Him had spread like wildfire – people were coming from all over to get a glimpse of this miracle worker, to hear His amazing teaching.
I’ve said it before. Jesus saw the crowds, and rather than building on His rising popularity – rather than building on His burgeoning movement – rather than telling people what they wanted to hear – He told them what they needed to hear. I would suggest Jesus’ methodology would not make it in most church growth books today. Too many churches hide the truth, are embarrassed by the truth, try to soften the truth, or even ignore or dismiss the truth. But again, Jesus started with some stunning words. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the persecuted. As I read those words, I’m embarrassed, even ashamed by many churches today that promise prosperity – which flies in the face of Jesus’ teaching. And He took it further, woe to the rich, the well-fed, those who laugh, and the popular. Talk about throwing a wet blanket on a movement.
You see, in this sermon, Jesus describes what life in His kingdom is like. What kingdom people are like. Who Christians truly are. We’ve seen the way into the kingdom is not the way of the religious. It is not the way of self-righteous performance. It is the way of brokenness, of letting go of any self-sufficiency, taking up the cross of Christ and following Him alone into the kingdom. It really is true – my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. His righteousness which transforms us. For example, His are people of love – especially toward each other, yes – but even toward those who oppose us, who are enemies, who hate us, and mistreat us. Further, we don’t hypocritically judge one another. Any judgment we offer is for the good of the other person. To the unbeliever to share the good news of the gospel; to the believer to encourage them. Can you imagine the impact such people would have on their community? Listen, I think we are becoming more like Jesus, impacting those around us. We are becoming the church God has called us and enabled us to be. The encouragement today is to continue.
You see, this morning, we arrive at Jesus’ final words in this sermon. And as He began, His final words are strong, difficult words, hard truths. Words of both introspection and invitation. They are familiar words, found at the end of His Sermon on the Mount and they have become the words of a children’s Sunday School song. I want us to hear the words again today – and allow them to do what Jesus intended them to do. Read the text with me – Luke 6:46-49.
Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say. In Matthew, He said it this way – there will be many on that day who will say, Lord, Lord, who will not enter the kingdom of heaven. These are difficult words – words of confrontation and invitation. An invitation to come, to hear, and to do. To be one of few who build their lives on the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Or a confrontation to stay where you are, to be one of the many, and face the disastrous and destructive consequences of a false profession, building your life on a false foundation.
To an audience in His day steeped in religious performance, Jesus had some earth-shattering things to say. To an audience in our day, too often concerned about the way we look, about external, performance driven, show-time religion, Jesus has some earth-shattering things to say. Namely this: if you think your profession without corresponding life change is going to get you to heaven, if you think even right doctrine, is going to get you there, think again. Jesus came and rocked their world. And I trust He is rocking ours.
Here’s the outline we’ll follow – it’s pretty simple – no difficulty in understanding the words – just difficulty in swallowing His words:
- A False Profession (46)
- A True Profession Illustrated (47-48)
- A False Profession Illustrated (49)
I believe Jesus intends for His sermon’s conclusion to be confrontational and divisive. Divisive in that it divides false followers from true followers – sheep from goats. There is a heaviness to these words. And the reason is because the division is not out there, it’s in here – it divides us, the evangelical church, between those who have and those who don’t, but sadly, think they do.
I want you to understand this is a message that permeates the pages of the Bible – there will be many who think they’re going to make it – who think they have what it takes, who have all the external trappings of religion, but don’t have the internal stuff of real faith.
Let me give you an example. In Matthew 25, Jesus told the parable of the ten virgins. It’s a little confusing. They were supposed to wait for the bridegroom to come and get them. They looked good – all dressed up for a wedding. They all even had their lamps to look good when the bridegroom came – kind of like our wedding bouquets, I guess. But there was a problem. Five of them looked good, had their lamps, but they didn’t have any oil for the lamps. And when the bridegroom finally showed up about midnight, the five began asking the other five for some oil. Go get your own, they said. And while they were away getting some oil, the bridegroom came and led the five prudent virgins into the wedding feast and closed the door.
When the five came back, they started pounding on the door – saying, (guess what) Lord, Lord, open up for us. But he answered, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” What was the problem? They didn’t have any oil. They looked great on the outside, shiny and pretty, and the lamps looked great. They had all the trappings of religious performance. But they were empty. They didn’t have any oil to make the lamps work. Do you get it? They didn’t have what it took to enter the wedding feast. They would never make it into the kingdom. The picture is the same as building a nice, pretty house with no foundation. It will not stand in this life when its storms come, and it certainly won’t stand on the day of judgment.
At His judgment, Jesus is going to separate professors from possessors – those who look good, maybe even religious, from those who have what it takes. They know the Lord, and the Lord knows them.
Now, if we were doing the separating, sheep from the goats, we’d say, well that’s easy – it’s the believers and the pagans – the people out there and the people in here. But that’s not the distinction Jesus is making. It is not between religious and irreligious people – it is between religious and religious people.
Again, we might say, well, that’s still easy. The line is drawn between religions – between the heresy of other world religions and Christianity. Between the apostasy of cults and the true Christian faith. But, while there is a line drawn between false world religions or cults and Christianity – that is not the contrast He is drawing. He is drawing a line between people in the church, between dare I say evangelicals and evangelicals – between people in this church.
How so? Jesus is drawing a line between the professors and the possessors. How do you know? Point one – A False Profession, defined as saying the right things but not doing the right things. What right things – well, for starters, the things He has talked about in this sermon. Look at verse 46, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not do what I say?” Apparently by this time, there were so-called disciples, who showed up, listened, but did not do. Why do you call Me Lord – Master, Ruler – and not obey Me?
First, notice, they say some right things. These people actually call Jesus Lord. To call someone Lord back then was an expression of respect, like saying sir. But as we’ve seen in Luke, it’s often an expression of deity. These people recognize who Jesus is. Repeated it, Lord, Lord, emphatic. I mean, just ask them, do you believe Jesus is Lord? Yep. Do you believe some right things about Jesus? Yep. Maybe even, do you believe gospel truth about Jesus – that He took on flesh, lived a perfect life, died for sinners, was raised again the third day? Yep. I know Romans 10:9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Yep – did that.
I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me – my brother, my sister, my mom, my dad, my son, my daughter – prayed a prayer. They said some right things. They called Jesus Savior – maybe even Lord. Now, they haven’t really lived for Jesus. In fact, their lives only changed a little for a short period of time. They haven’t loved Jesus like they should – but if you asked them – they always pointed back to that time. They’re okay, then, right, Pastor Scott?
Well, first of all, I’m not the judge of their hearts – only one is. But, Jesus indicates here saying some right things – even calling Him Lord is not saving faith. Not if your life isn’t changed. Not if you don’t do what He says. To be clear, it is not what you do that makes you a Christian – it just proves you are one.
What all that means is this: these people had some right theology – they knew some good things. They even had a right Christology. These weren’t people out there denying the Trinity or the deity of Jesus. These were people who know who Jesus is – they knew Him as Lord. They believed something fundamentally essential to true, saving faith – that is, the deity of Jesus. The Lordship of Jesus. But there was a problem. They didn’t do what He said.
Back in Matthew in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, it gets a little more shocking. There were people who called Jesus Lord and even did some things. They prophesied in His name, cast out demons, performed miracles. But Jesus said, not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Rather, it’s only the ones who do the Father’s will – that is, among others things, what Jesus has taught in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain.
Meaning, there are going to be those who have right theology, who have right doctrine, who went to the right churches, who say, Lord, Lord, we know who you are – but He’s going to say, but I don’t know you. Knowing who Jesus is, being religious, doing religious things, believing some things rightly will not cut it.
Let that sink in a minute. This is really religious stuff – evangelical stuff. Things you don’t see every day – things that wow us. In fact – these are the things Jesus was doing in Galilee when He gathered this multitude to begin with. That’s why they were there that day – He was preaching, He was casting out demons, and He was doing miracles, He was healing people. This is impressive – there must be nothing wrong with these things, in and of themselves. In fact, they’re good things.
This is the stuff His disciples are going to do when He sends them out two by two. This isn’t heretical stuff. This is the miraculous – all done in Jesus’ name. Certainly, the good things people do – going to church, teaching Sunday school, reading the Bible – certainly those things get me in the kingdom, right? Praying and giving and fasting twice a week – I’ve done those things. Maybe I just need to throw in a miracle or two? These people will stand incredulous before Jesus one day and say, I don’t get it. I know I did the right things. Certainly, you’ve overlooked something – check the records again. Here, let me help you – let me tell you what I’ve done. Get it? What I’ve done, not what you did, Jesus. No gospel relationship.
This is a scary text. It shows we can believe the right things, do the right things, and not be in the kingdom – we can still be on the broad path that leads to destruction. Why? Self-deception. You see, trusting in your right thinking, even right theology; trusting in your right doing, even ministry, won’t do it. You can trust some right things, you can do some right things – without trusting in Jesus. If you’re holding onto anything you believe, anything you do, to make you acceptable before God then you are trusting in you rather than trusting in Jesus, alone. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness – not my righteousness – His. Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?
This is a scary text. I’ve shared this with you before, but you have to understand this morning that there are three levels of faith. Hear me on this. Three levels of faith – they go like this:
- First is a knowledge of the facts. There are people all over the world who have heard about Jesus, who have studied Him in history classes, who maybe even learned about Him in Sunday School. But that is not saving faith. It’s necessary to saving faith – you have to know the facts to believe – but just knowing isn’t enough.
- The second level is believing the facts are true. It’s one thing to know the history of a man named Jesus, it’s another thing to believe that He really was the Son of God, that He was Lord, that He really lived a sinless life, that He really died on a cross for sinners, and that He really did rise from the dead. But that is not saving faith. There are people all over this world who believe Jesus died for sinners.
- The third level of faith, which leads to true, saving faith, is this. Knowing the facts about Jesus, believing them to be true, and trusting they are true for you. Accepting what Jesus did for you. Flying to the cross and embracing Christ – saying, to God, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. Jesus, I’m a sinner, and my only hope for forgiveness, my only hope for mercy and grace, my only hope for salvation is you. I cling to nothing else but You, alone. Some of you need to do that today. Jesus desires to know you – does He?
Let’s move to our next two points – true and false foundations – those who come, those who hear, and those who do. There are three participles here – all necessary for true saving faith – coming, hearing, and then with changed life, doing. Next, there are those who come, who hear, but do not do. Their lives are not changed. Two foundations – one true, one false.
Jesus gives a couple of contrasting parables to describe what He’s talking about. First is the man who builds a house on a solid foundation. He digs down to the bedrock, lays the foundation, and when the floods come, when the torrent or the river raged against it, the house stood. Second is the man who built his house on the ground with no foundation.
I want you to notice something about these two houses. They looked the same. The fact of the matter is, both houses looked good – they were religious houses. They were moral houses. They were, if you will, evangelical houses. There was no way you could tell by looking at them from the curb that there was any difference between them. You see, once a house is built, there’s something you don’t see anymore – the foundation. The house looks great. Nobody can tell. You’d have to do some digging to look at the foundation.
When I was in my first year of ministry just out of Bible college, I was a youth pastor. Had about fifty kids in my Sunday school class, and I wanted to make an impression. So I decided to teach on this story – building on the right foundation – as well as I Corinthians 3 which talks about making sure we build our houses with things that will last – gold, silver, precious stone, rather than wood, hay and stubble.
Well, I went down to the basement of the church and found these square, slate tiles. I built them into a house and covered them with construction paper – made it look like a real nice house on the outside. Then I built another one just like it out of cardboard.
The one built out of slate I put on a rock on top of a table. The other I put in a box of sand. Then I told the story of building on the right foundation, the winds and rains came, and my trusty assistant, Tana, turned this big fan on, and of course, the house made of cardboard turned over.
But that wasn’t enough of an object lesson for me. I talked about how important it was to build with materials that would last – gold, silver and precious stones, and how our works were going to be tested by what? Fire. You got it. I lit the houses, in the Sunday School room while my trusty assistant stood by, this time with a fire extinguisher. The flames leapt all the way up to the ceiling tiles, the room filled with smoke, and we all left smelling like we’d just enjoyed a cigarette together.
But the point was made – I hope they never forget it. We’re all building – some of us have nice, pretty, shiny houses. You can’t tell one from the other. But the problem is this, some of you are building on dirt – on your own self-righteousness, your own accomplishments, and they will not stand when the major test of the judgment at the end of life comes. Your house will fall. You may have us fooled as we look from the curb, you may even have yourself fooled – you may be self-deceived. And you may stand before the Lord one day and say, “Lord, Lord, look at my pretty house. Look at all the good things I did for you.” And He will say, I never knew you. There was never any relationship.
You never put these words you’ve heard over the past few weeks, or maybe for the first time this morning – you never put them into practice. You’ve never entered the kingdom broken, trusting in the cross of Christ alone. You don’t know Him, and He doesn’t know you.
Notice, when the rains came, the torrents came, the house built on the foundation of Christ stood. It proved its foundation by coming to Christ, hearing His word in the gospel, and then doing His word. The others – they came, they heard, but they never did what He said. Their house was just a façade, with no foundation.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
You ever wondered what that meant? I dare not trust the sweetest frame, the prettiest house I can build, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
You will stand before the throne. If you try to stand in your own righteousness, apart from the righteousness of Christ alone, the fall of your house will be great. If you are doing religious stuff, when the storms of this life come, they will reveal who you really are – built on the foundation Christ, or your religious stuff with no foundation. The fall of your house may take you completely by surprise – it will be great, and it will resound in your ears for eternity. There is no second chance.
We are closing, not only this message, but the Sermon on the Plain. Yes, there may be other opportunities to enter the kingdom – to start building your life on the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ. But there may not be. If you want to enter, I invite you – I plead with you, to come. Do not be self-deceived. Don’t build your life on dust – on anything you have to offer – build it on Christ the solid rock – all other ground is sinking sand.