Now, last night we really hurried over the
latter part of chapter 6, Matthew's Gospel, so
I think I'd like to just go back
to that for a moment tonight and draw
together the threads, and then we'll go on
to chapter 7.
We're going to try to finish chapter 7
tonight, and I would like to leave a
little time at the end if you have
some questions to ask, we'd try to answer
them, especially to do with the Sermon on
the Mount, but any other questions you might
have.
We were noticing that from verse 19 to
the end of the chapter, the Lord Jesus
was talking about social security, and what he
was telling us was that if we seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
you don't have to worry about social security
you haven't made.
He absolutely promises in the word of God
that if we live devotedly and passionately for
him, we don't have to take anxious thoughts
for the morrow.
And we suggested the rather revolutionary teaching, and
that's what it is because the Lord Jesus
was a revolutionist.
We suggested the rather revolutionary teaching here that
what the scripture sets forth is that a
Christian should diligently provide for his own current
needs and the current needs of his family,
and he should trust God for the future.
Now, in this passage of scripture, the Lord
tells us that anxious thought for the morrow
is, first of all, unnecessary.
Verses 25 and 26.
He says, look at the birds.
They don't sow, neither do they reap nor
gather into barns.
Your heavenly Father feeds them.
Aren't you of more value to him than
they are?
So, first of all, anxiety is unnecessary.
Then, secondly, anxiety is useless.
It says, and which of you, by thinking,
can add one cubit to his stature?
And the answer is, nobody is able to
do that.
You can't increase your height by worrying, neither
can you increase the length of your years.
And then, not only that, but anxious thought
about the morrow is inconsistent and unbelieving.
Verses 28 through 30.
Inconsistent.
Look at the lilies of the field and
how they are decked in glory.
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
like one of those.
Well, if God is able to clothe the
lily of the field, how much more able
is he to clothe you, O ye of
little faith?
And then, finally, verses 31 and 32.
Anxious thought about the morrow is unchristian.
It says, for after all these things do
the Gentiles seek.
That is, the pagans.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you.
And so what the scripture sets forth for
the child of God, and for every child
of God, is a life of faith.
It's a life in which you have no
visible means of support, as it were, as
far as the future is concerned.
You trust in the living God.
Now, moving on to chapter 7, shall we
read a few of these verses?
It says, Judge not that ye be not
judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged.
And with what judgment, with what measure ye
meet, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is
in my brother's eye, but considerest not the
beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Let me pull out the mote out of
thine eye, and behold, a beam is in
thine eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out
of thine own eye, and then shalt thou
seek clearly to cast out the mote of
thy own eye.
Give not that which is holy unto the
dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and
turn again and rend you.
Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that asketh, receiveth.
And he that seeketh, findeth.
And to him that knocketh, it shall be
opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give
him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask him?
Therefore all things whatsoever he would that men
should do to you, do he even so
to them.
For this is the law and the prophet."
Now, this chapter opens with the instruction that
we're not to judge lest we be judged.
Let's think about that for a while.
Now, this means don't judge another man's motive.
It doesn't mean don't judge another man's actions,
because you have to judge people's actions, but
you can't judge their motive.
You can tell what a man is doing,
but you can't tell why he's doing it.
You say, oh, he's just engaging in Christian
service to be seen of them.
Well, you can't tell that.
God can tell, but you can't tell.
Now, actually, the Bible in other places tells
us that we have to judge certain things.
For instance, the Bible tells believers, be not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Now, in order to obey that admonition, you
have to really do some judging as to
whether a person is a Christian or not,
don't you?
Young people, thinking of a life partner, they're
called upon to judge whether a person has
been truly born again or not.
This is absolutely necessary.
Then in the local church, too, God requires
that the elders in a local church do
the work of judgment.
When sin, for instance, has come into the
church, sometimes you hear people ridiculously quote this
verse of Scripture.
They say, oh well, judge not that you
be not judged.
But the Bible says, therefore, put away from
among yourselves that wicked person.
Now, how can you do it if you
don't judge his actions?
You have to judge action, but you mustn't
judge motive.
And there's something else that you mustn't judge,
and that is, you mustn't condemn somebody else
for a fault when you have a worse
fault yourself.
And this is included in this portion of
Scripture.
One man is driving by a wheat field
and a little tiny bit of pollen from
the wheat field gets in his eye.
The other man who's judging him has a
telephone pole in his eye.
In fact, the telephone pole is so big
that he couldn't really see the pollen from
the wheat too clearly.
And that's exactly the illustration that you have
in the Scriptures.
I must say I enjoy my Bible when
I study it.
And when you hear the Spirit of God
talking in this way, is it ridiculous?
Well, no more ridiculous than human nature.
I'll tell you that.
It's a wonderful commentary.
There's no greater book in the world on
psychology than the Bible.
Did you ever notice this?
It's far easier to see a fault in
somebody else than it is to see that
same fault in yourself.
And you know, when you have it, it's
hideous.
And when I have it, it's cute.
Did you ever notice that?
Well, that's right.
And that's what this portion of Scripture, the
very fact that you have a nervous laugh
when I say that tells me that it's
true, that I've got a response.
Of course, it's true in my life too.
It was true in David's life.
You know, David had stolen the wife of
Uriah the Hittite.
And he didn't think anything about it.
After all, he was the king of Israel.
And one day, about a year later, a
prophet named Nathan came to him.
And he said, King David, I have a
story to tell to you.
And King David said, tell me the story.
And he said, well, he said there was
a very rich man and he had a
flock of sheep, had all kinds of sheep
and lambs.
And a visitor came to him one day.
And instead of going out and killing one
of his own lambs, he went to one
of his neighbors who had one little lamb
and he killed that little lamb and gave
it to his guests.
And David, why the wretch of a man
that should do a thing like that, he
ought to die.
And Nathan said to him, David, you're the
man.
Now you see, the remarkable thing is that
when it was told as a story to
David, he could see the fault in that
other man, that rich man with all the
sheep, but he couldn't see that he had
done the same thing.
He couldn't see that Uriah the Hittite had
one little lamb, that Sheba, and he had
stolen that lamb.
And he not only did that, but he
sent Uriah into the front of the battle
to be killed.
And I admire the courage of Nathan that
could point the accusing finger at the king
of Israel and said, you're the man that
did it.
But David couldn't see the fault in himself
as well as he could see it in
somebody else.
So that's fallen human nature.
The very fact that we are like that
shows that sin has come into the world
and has affected our members.
And so the Bible says this, why beholdest
thou the moat that is in thy brother's
eye, but consider it not the beam that
is in thine own eye.
You know, I believe in the depravity of
human nature and I believe in my own
depravity too.
And the longer I live, the more I'm
convinced of it.
And there's nothing as vile and evil as
the human heart.
And it's a wonderful thing that we're saved
by the grace of God, because only God
would have bothered.
Only God would have bothered.
Dear friend, if you're here tonight on stage,
I'd like to say to you this in
all love and sincerity, that only God would
have sent his son to die for someone
like you and like me.
Only God would have done it.
I visited one night in a nearby town
in Illinois, a man who had gone down
to the very dregs with liquor.
I felt sorry for the man.
I really did.
He was so low.
And I said to him, Floyd, if you
had an only son, would you give that
son to die for a drunkard?
And he said to me, I wouldn't do
it.
Well, that's right.
He told the truth.
I wouldn't do it.
I said to him, Floyd, God did it
for you.
And he did.
He gave the son of his love, his
sinless, spotless son, to die for a race
of rebel mankind.
Well, here it is in the word of
God.
We behold the moat.
A moat is just a tiny particle of
dust.
That's what it is.
We behold the moat in our brother's eye,
and we can't see the beam that's in
our own eye.
In fact, the beam keeps us from seeing
anything very clearly.
And so we go to our brother and
say, just a minute, will you hold your
eyes steady while I take the tweezers and
take out the moat?
And the Bible says be careful there with
that tweezers.
You can do a lot of harm with
those tweezers when you've got such a big
beam in your own eye, you're not able
to see too clearly.
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out
of thine own eye, and then shalt thou
see clearly to cast out a moat out
of thy brother's eye.
Well, I think we want to take away
from this paragraph, first of all, that it
doesn't mean that we're not to do any
judging.
As Christians, there are certain forms of judgment
which we must participate in.
The local church must judge whether a person
has been genuinely saved before that person is
received into fellowship.
But we mustn't judge the motives of men's
hearts, why they act the way they do,
why they do a certain thing, and then
we mustn't be critical of things in other
people's lives when we have worse in our
own lives.
Then the word of God says in verse
6, Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet and
turn and venge you.
Well, dogs and swine are unclean animals, and
in a general way it would refer to
the unsaved, but it's really a particular class
of unsaved people.
That which is holy, the things of God,
the truth of the word of God.
Now, this doesn't mean the gospel.
It doesn't mean that you're not going to
go with the gospel to the unsaved, does
it?
Because the Bible tells us that's the very
thing we ought to do.
And just because a man refuses the gospel
the first time I go to him with
it, doesn't mean I shouldn't go the second
time and the seventh time with the gospel.
That isn't the class of people that are
mentioned here, but this is a violent class
of person, a vicious type of individual who,
when you present the truth of God's word,
despises it and treats it with utter contempt
and tramples it underfoot.
And the Bible does tell us that when
a man acts in such an extreme way,
we're not obligated to cast our pearls before
swine.
Do you see that distinction?
I think it's important that we make these
distinctions.
It doesn't mean that we're to withhold the
gospel and the truth of God from men
and women.
It doesn't mean that.
God wants us to share the truth of
God.
But this has to do with a violent,
vicious, rebellious type of person who's loud and
clamorous and treats all the things of God
with utter contempt and perhaps even uses violence
on those who would bring the gospel to
them.
I say, we're not obligated to cast pearls
before swine or give that which is holy
to dogs, lest they trample it under their
feet and turn and rend you.
And then verses 7 through 12 have to
do with a wonderful subject of prayer, and
it's wonderful how this begins.
It says, Ask, and it shall be given
you.
Seek, and ye shall find not, and it
shall be opened unto you.
Who said it?
Jesus said it.
Could he tell a lie?
No, he couldn't tell a lie.
Could he be deceived?
No, he couldn't be deceived.
Could he deceive anyone else?
No, he couldn't deceive anyone else.
Is it possible to ask and not have
it given?
No, it isn't possible.
It says, Ask, and it shall be given.
Is it possible to seek without finding?
No, it isn't possible.
Is it possible to...
You say, Just a minute.
I pray a lot of prayers that aren't
answered.
Are you ready?
Well, dear friends, I try to remember this
in my prayer.
Sometimes the illusion sweeps over my soul.
What's the use?
You get down and pray, and nothing seems
to happen.
Well, the Bible teaches us that you should
never pray without anything happening.
You never pray without anything happening.
Every prayer is heard and answered, but the
one who answers the prayers knows more than
we know.
He knows what's best for us.
And, dear friends, my experience in the Christian
life is this.
I've prayed for a lot of things, and
I didn't get what I asked for, but
I always got something better.
In 1940, my mother was dying, and I
suppose it was a natural thing.
We prayed that the Lord would pull her
through, that she'd recover, and he didn't do
it.
But he gave us something better.
He took her home to heaven.
That's what he did.
It's not so bad to have a loved
one in heaven.
I didn't see it as clearly then as
I do now, but it's not so bad
to have a loved one in heaven.
A lot of things are worse than that,
I want to tell you.
So I try to remember this in my
prayer life, and I hope it will be
an encouragement to you.
If you pray for something, and God doesn't
give you exactly what you prayed for, he'll
give you something better.
He reserves that right.
He'll never give you something that's harmful.
Now, sometimes I've prayed for things, and in
later years, I thought, well, I'm glad he
didn't give me that.
It wouldn't have been for my good.
Don't you find that in life?
Well, that's exactly what the passage says.
It says, if your boy comes to you
and says, Ma, give me a peanut butter
sandwich, you don't say, here's Johnny, chew in
this stone for awhile.
That's what it says.
And if he comes to you and says,
Ma, how about a piece of that fried
flounder?
You don't give him a section of a
rattlesnake.
You don't do that.
And the argument of the passage is, if
you being evil, what does that mean?
Well, it means sinful creatures.
That's what it means.
It doesn't necessarily mean wicked and wild and
voracious, but it means if you being sinful
creatures of the dust know how to give
good things to your children who ask them,
how much more does your heavenly father?
Sometimes you come to him and you say,
Lord, give me this piece of bread, something
I want very, very much.
God doesn't give you a stone.
And if he doesn't give you that piece
of bread, then the very denial of it
is for your good.
My, it's wonderful to know that isn't it?
I think it's wonderful to know that you're
never bound to me and come into the
presence of God and make your request.
But what your request is heard and answered
according to the infinite wisdom of God.
Sometimes I pray for guidance with regard to
a certain thing and no guidance comes, no
guidance comes.
Well, that's the answer, dear friend.
If you're praying for guidance and no guidance
comes, God's guidance is to stay right where
you are.
Absolutely.
God's guidance is to stay right where you
are.
You're not to move till a pillar of
cloud moves.
You're not to move till a pillar of
fire moves.
And you hear the trumpets blowing.
And if you wait out God's time, he
will not disappoint you that he may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God.
Now, I would like to say this tonight
when we're on this paragraph.
There are mysteries in prayer that I can
understand.
I do confess that to you, and I
don't try to understand them.
I just pray.
I suppose there are some theologians that could
unspin a lot of these mysteries that they
could try anyway.
Well, I'm not interested in it.
I'd rather pray than know all the mysteries
connected with prayer.
I would.
I'd rather come in simple faith to the
Lord and just speak to him as a
child to his father, tell him all about
it, then unravel all of these complicated problems
and connections.
To me, that's wonderful.
I like a verse like verse seven.
It just simply suits me because there are
so few big words in it.
Ask that it shall be given.
Seek and you shall find.
Not that it shall be open unto you.
And I say, thank you, Lord.
I'll go on.
I'll persevere in prayer, and I have utmost
confidence that what comes my way is according
to your wisdom and love.
Verse eleven.
If ye then be evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children.
How much more shall your Father which is
in heaven give good things to them that
ask him?
Therefore all things whatsoever.
Here we have what is known as the
golden rule.
Whatsoever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them.
For this is the law and the prophet.
What does it mean?
Well, it means in your relationships with your
fellow men, be guided by this principle.
Treat them the way you'd want them to
treat you.
That's one of the key words, of course,
in the Christian life, that word, others.
Others.
Others, yes, Lord, others.
Let this my motto be.
Let me live for others that I might
live like thee.
If you study the life of the Lord
Jesus, you find he never had a selfish
thought.
Everything he did was for others.
When it says this is the law and
the prophet, it means this is a summing
up of all that the law and the
prophet said with regard to our relationships to
our fellow men.
In other words, you've summarized the whole Old
Testament when you come to an expression like
that.
Do to others what you'd have them to
do to you.
And then the word of God says, enter
ye in at the straight gate.
And straight there doesn't mean straight like a
ruler, but it means narrow.
That's what it means.
People say to me, oh, Christianity is so
narrow.
Christians are so narrow.
Well, dear friends, that wasn't original with you.
The Bible said it long before you said
it.
It says that.
It says enter in at the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be which go in thereat.
Because straight is the gate, narrow is the
gate.
Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.
Few there be that find it.
Here you have what the chart calls the
two roads and two destinies of the human
race.
This broad way, the well lighted boulevard going
down to hell that's got plenty of people
on it and has a clean footpath along
the side with righteous, morally respectable, good intentioned
citizens.
But they've never been born again, and they're
going down the same broad way that leads
to hell as the Tony Acardos and all
the other gangsters and hoodlums.
Not a solemn thought.
People that wouldn't associate, sinners that wouldn't associate
with one another in life will associate with
one another in hell because they would not
accept the sinner's savior.
And it is solemn to think that there
will be men like Eichmann in heaven and
there will be self-righteous sinners in hell.
The Lord Jesus said that.
He said, the publicans and the harlots go
into the kingdom of heaven before you.
Why?
Because they acknowledge their sins and the self
-righteous people refuse to do it.
Well, here you have the narrow road that
leads to likeness.
Few there be that go in there.
Is the Bible true?
You only have to use your eyes to
know the Bible is true.
All you have to do is read the
newspapers and you'll know the Bible is true.
Few there be that go in there.
And then the Lord Jesus warns his disciples
that there will be false prophets.
What is a false prophet?
A prophet, first of all, is a spokesman
for God.
When we think of a prophet, we think
of one who predicts the future, but that's
not basically what a prophet is.
A prophet basically is a mouthpiece for God.
And the Lord Jesus said, beware of false
prophets.
Why did he say that?
Well, because the devil is at his best
when he's a false prophet.
A lot of people think that the devil
is at his best down at Skid Row,
where men are crawling around in the gutter,
steeped in sin and shame.
That isn't when the devil is at his
best.
The devil is at his best in the
pulpit, when there's a man up there wearing
ecclesiastical garments and he has a Bible in
his hand and he's spewing out the doctrines
of the devil.
The doctrines that deny the Christ of God,
his virgin birth, his deity, his atoning death
and his coming in.
That's when the devil is at his best.
Or out in some of the universities, robbing
young people of their faith in the Savior
and giving them nothing in its place but
an empty heart.
That's why the Lord Jesus had his strongest
word for religious faith.
The most ringing denunciations he ever uttered were
for those who posed as ministers of righteousness.
As we said last night, within them there
were dead men's bones.
So he says, Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves.
That is, outwardly they are very suave, very
polite, very gentlemanly, and the words just come
flowing out of their mouth like smooth butter.
But what about inwardly?
Inwardly they are enemies of the cross of
Christ, whose God is their belly, whose glory
is in their shame.
F.
B.
Meyer said of these men, Their life is
all kitchen and no chapel.
They are in it for what they get
out of it, but they have no real
love for souls.
Their life is all kitchen, whose God is
their belly.
It says, Ye shall know them by their
fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs
of thistles?
No.
This is just it.
How can you discern these false prophets?
Well, you can discern them by whether the
effect of their work is to draw men
closer to simplicity in Christ.
Whether they on the one hand fill your
mind with doubts and denial, or whether they
on the other hand give you a greater
love for the Word of God and for
the Christ of God and for the Spirit
of God and for God Himself.
You know men by their fruit.
And you know it is wonderful to me
that young believers don't have to listen very
long before they say, Boy, that isn't right,
is it?
It is wonderful the instinct, the spiritual instinct
that God gives to one who is truly
born again, that he is able to discern
false spirits that have gone abroad in the
world.
He says, Ye shall know them by their
fruit.
In the Old Testament a false prophet was
found.
You could tell him in two ways.
First of all, if he predicted the future
and it didn't come to pass, he was
a false prophet.
Secondly, if he led men away from God
into idolatry, he was a false prophet.
He was to be taken out and stoned
to death.
It is true in the New Testament that
you still tell them by their fruit.
You don't take the government into your hand
in the New Testament and stone them to
death, but you can tell them by their
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
If a man truly belongs to the Lord
and ministers the Word of God, he can't
bring forth evil fruit.
Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Therefore, by their fruit ye shall know He
not only speaks about false prophets in this
section, but he speaks about false professors in
the words that follow.
He says, Not everybody that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
It isn't just enough to say, Lord, Lord.
Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name?
This is solemn.
And in thy name have cast out demons,
and in thy name done many wonderful works.
What does that mean?
It means mighty miracles.
That's what it means.
Can you do that?
Yes, you know, there's a power in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
Do you know that the name of the
Lord Jesus is so powerful that an ungodly
man can get up and preach the gospel,
and in a sense, souls could be reached
through that?
That might seem to contradict what we've said
before, but it doesn't.
It's the Word of God and not the
messenger that produces fruit in that case.
And here you have the strange thing that
people use the name of the Lord Jesus,
and they actually cast out demons.
They use the name of the Lord Jesus,
and they actually do mighty miracles.
And the Lord Jesus will say in that
day, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.
What does it mean?
Well, it means that there's a danger of
a false profession.
It means there's a danger of giving lip
service to the Lord Jesus and never having
had a supernatural work of grace in a
person's life.
Terribly solemn, isn't it?
Terribly solemn.
This business of church membership.
You know, you can move into a neighborhood
today, and you can get a card in
the mail, and if you fill out the
card, you're a member of the church.
Did you ever hear of that?
Then at the end of the month, you
get a statement telling how much you owe.
Well, this is the way it's going on
today.
It's true.
Statements put out at IBM machines.
Monthly statements now, just like you get from
the gas company.
Well, that's what the Bible says.
It says this is going to be in
the last day.
Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, you
know all that we did in your name.
You'll say, yes, but I never had any
living vital contact with you.
I will profess to them I never knew
you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
And then he says, therefore, whosoever heareth and
heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them,
I will liken him unto a wise man
which built his house upon a rock.
The rains descended, the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat upon the house, and
it fell not, and it was founded upon
a rock.
Now, actually, these words of mine refer to
what he just said in the Sermon on
the Mount.
And these are, as we said, the ideal
man.
These set forth the ideal man in God's
kingdom.
God says, do you want to like this
well-grounded?
Well, build on these words of mine.
Of course.
That's just what it teaches.
You say, well, isn't it the gospel?
Well, the gospel is included, too.
But the type of a light that gives
a man a foundation is this type of
light that's been described here.
And the trials and the temptations and the
testings of life come, and the man stands
like a tree that's been planted by rivers
of water.
The winds don't blow him down.
The floods don't overflow him.
Why?
Because his life has been built on these
principles, on the sayings of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
But there's another one.
It says, everyone that heareth these sayings of
mine and doeth them not shall be likened
unto a foolish man which built his house
upon a fan.
And the rains descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat upon that
house, and it fell, and great was the
fall about.
Here's a man who hears the teaching of
the Lord Jesus, but perhaps he prefers to
build his house on the structure of materialism,
on a love for passing things.
And he spends all his life accumulating for
his old age, and he neglects the great
things in life.
He neglects the things that are basic and
prime.
And the Lord said, why don't you just
like building on sand?
And when the storms come and the floods
begin to beat, the house just goes.
I remember talking to a dear lady in
a Chicago hospital.
I didn't know she was as close to
death as she was.
And I went in and had prayer with
her and read the word of God, and
she said to me, I'm so glad I
trusted Christ when I did.
She said, do you know that tonight I'm
so sick I can't pray, but I'm thankful
I can say this, on Christ the solid
rock I stand, where all other ground is
sinking sand.
She had her roots deep in God, and
when the winds began to blow, I don't
think that was too serious, that she was
so sick she couldn't pray.
Dear friend, sometimes we are so sick we
can't pray.
It's good to know that the Christians are
praying at a time like that.
That's all right, don't let that worry you.
Don't let that worry you.
She said, I'm thankful I can say on
Christ the solid rock I stand, where all
other ground is sinking sand.
But I've had the responsibility of being with
other people, who have lived a shallow life,
a shallow life.
They've lived for passing things.
It was kind of sad at the end
of the journey to hear their regrets.
To hear, I realize now I've wasted my
life, the soul saved, but the life lost.
I think that we should all remember that,
dear friend, it's possible to have your soul
saved and your life lost.
What God wants is that we go home
into heaven with all our sails flying, like
a ship with all its sails, and not
like some wreck.
Flotsam and jetsam.
And so there you have the two men
here.
You have those who build on the principles
of the sermon.
Of course they're saved first, and then they
build upon these principles of the sermon in
the mouth, and they're like a house pounded
upon a rock.
There are those who take it casually.
They don't get too deep.
They don't want to become too involved.
It's all right to be religious and be
saved, but you don't have to be fanatical
about it.
Well, what's going to happen when the crises
of life come?
These are the things that make men stand.
And so great was the fall of Rome.
It came to pass when Jesus had ended
these sayings, the people were astonished at his
doctrine.
Why?
He says, for he taught them as one
having authority and not as the scribes.
Really, I believe that's a touch of humor
in the Bible from time to time.
What were the scribes like?
Well, the scribes, they were the teachers of
the people, and all they did was quote
others.
That's all they did, quote others.
And here's where the Lord Jesus steps forth,
and he delivers this tremendous sermon in the
mountain.
The people thought, this man is different from
the scribes.
There is a difference.
You know, wherever I believe, wherever you find
a life that adheres literally to the teachings
of the sermon, there's a power there that's
hard to explain, but it's there just the
same.
He might not know that his face is
shining, but everybody else knows it.
And so they heard the Lord Jesus uttering
these wonderful words, and they said, my, this
man speaks as one that has authority and
not as a scribe.
And from this moment on, the scribes become
bitter in their enmity toward the Lord Jesus
and the Pharisees as well, who have begun
to be exposed.
Now may the Lord bless these studies to
our hearts, and most of all, may he
enable us to make them practical.
You know, it was said of the Lord
Jesus, the word became flesh.
John chapter one, the word became flesh.
You know, that's what should happen in our
lives, too.
We've studied three chapters from the word of
God.
Now the word should become flesh, shouldn't it?
So that people in Durham could see what
we've been talking about.
Now, are there any questions?
I know that we've gone quickly over some
of these portions.
If you do have any question, I wish
you'd feel free to speak up now and
we'll try to answer it.
Any question?
Don't be bashful.
An old Chinese proverb says, he who asks
a question is a fool for five minutes.
He who asks no question is a fool
for how long?
Forever.
I'd rather be a fool for five minutes,
wouldn't you?
Now here's Dallas Jones to sing for you.
Why did they nail him?