Time to Choose Pt 3: How Will You Build Your House?

chapter 7. Matthew, chapter 7. This morning, we'll close out our study in the Sermon on the Mount. I think it's kind of interesting that we'll close out our study in the Sermon on the Mount at the same time that we're closing out another year because this will be our last, obviously, last Sunday in the year 2021. And may I say, thank God. I'm kind of ready to close the door

on this year, if I'm being completely honest. So, let's close out our study in the Sermon on the Mount at the same time that we're closing out our study. And as we approach this last study, we come to the last of the challenging questions that Jesus has been asking or the last study in our three-part series of A Time to Choose. We said that with this aspect of choosing, as he has presented the truth of the kingdom of God, he's presented three choices to us or four choices to us which I've posed as four different questions.

Which path are you going to take? Who are you going to listen to? What will you do if you choose to choose to choose to choose to choose to do what will your life say? And then we come to the last one today. How will you build your house? And so, as we come to this last one, it really is the last challenging question but it also is the conclusion of this study.

And so, as we look at verses 24 through 29, there's three things I'd like for you to see. We're going to take a look at the comparison, the application and the conclusion. And so, we pick up in verse 24 where it says this, Therefore, everyone who hears mine, an axe on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, and floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who has built his house on the sand. The rain fell down, and the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes. And so as we come to this last section, it truly is the concluding section.

We can see that when it says, therefore, because it reminds us to look back on everything that we've talked about. Not just those first three questions that he posed, not just those first three challenges that he posed, but I think really his teaching in general, the summation of his teaching. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them. And so what he does is he actually gives us the first of what we would call a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

And so in this parable that he gives us at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he talks about a couple of different houses, which is what brings me to my first point, which is the comparison. Because what he does is he compares the two. He compares two different houses. Did you take note of how similar they were? Because that's the first thing I want us to pay attention to.

These houses that he presents to us were very much alike. They were alike in three ways. First of all, both houses had a builder. The builders were called two different things. The first builder was called the wise man. The second builder was called the foolish man. But each house had a builder. Now, it's interesting to pay attention to having worked construction that I can look

at any building and realize. Everything is certain about every building that I can look at. It had a builder. And I know most of what goes into the building of most buildings because I've been around it quite a bit. I know that it requires different aspects of contractors and subcontractors. But ultimately, there's one guy who's responsible for the whole thing.

There's one guy who will put his stamp of approval on everything that takes place, and that is the builder. The second thing that I take note of that's similar about these houses is they both ultimately came up with the same end product, right? Right. The same end product is that once the builder was finished completing the house, he had the same end product.

The wise man had an end product, and that was a house, a house that had been produced by his efforts and by his work of building. The foolish man had the same end product. When he was done with his job, when he was done with his construction, he looked and he said, a house. By all accounts, both houses looked exactly the same. By all accounts, both houses had the exact same thing.

They both had a foundation. They both had walls. They both had a roof. In this day and age, they would have both had plumbing. They would have both had electrical, heating, and air conditioning systems. They would have had all the things that a house has. And from the outside, when you looked at them, they both probably looked exactly the same, give or take a few details.

Perhaps a color was different. Perhaps an embellishment was different or a design was a little bit different. But when all was said and done, you looked and you said, two beautifully built homes. That's how they were the same. However, within this exact same reading, we see that there were some differences too. First of all, each one was built with a very different foundation.

We're told that the wise man built his house upon a rock. Actually, the term there is a rocky foundation or a rocky surface. The idea is that he made sure that when his house was built, that his house was built on a very firm spot that wasn't going to eventually collapse. Actually, what he did is he would have done some investigating because apparently in the nation of Israel, because it gets so hot in the summertime and so dry in the summertime, the ground eventually begins to bake, if you will.

And even very soft soil can turn very hard because it gets baked by the dryness and the hotness of the sun. You don't realize what the foundation is really like until the rainy season when the foundation is ultimately revealed. But I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. The wise man built his foundation or built his house on a very firm foundation, a rocky cliff, if you will.

The foolish man, however, didn't take any time to take a look at what his foundation actually looked like. He spent no time exploring what the ground was like that he was going to build his house upon. And so he ended up building his house upon very sandy soil. This is how they were different. But of course, we know that the end result of their homes was very different.

Very different as well. Though they both had the same outcome because their houses looked very similar, the end result of how their houses fared in the bad weather, well, that was very different. You see, the wise man that had built his home upon the rock, his house stood strong in the midst of a storm. The foolish man who built his house upon the sand, his house did not stand firm in the storm.

And so we look at the explanation because what does that mean for us? Ryan, I get it. There's houses. There's builders. They look the same, but they ended up very different. Well, of course, there's application. And you know the application, but we may as well go through it because I think it drives it home a little bit. The builder of the home is you. The question is, which kind of builder are you going to be?

You could be the wise builder that chooses to build his house upon the foundation, or you could be the foolish builder which chooses to build his house upon the sand. But the builder is you. Now, I think it's kind of interesting and maybe a little bit funny that the word foolish there actually comes from the root. The root word moro, from which we get our word moron.

You know why I like that, because it's a fun word to say, okay? I'd rather just call someone a moron instead of a fool, but the idea is given there. And so he says, that's the difference, is what kind of builder are you going to be? Of course, the builder is you, so you'll decide whether you're going to be wise or whether you're going to be a moron. And of course, the house that you're building, the house that you're building is your life.

First of all, your own personal life. How will you build your own personal life? How will you build your own personal life? Will you be like the wise man and build your house upon the rock, or will you be like the foolish man and build your house upon the sand? But you see, I think there's an even wider application, even broader application that can be given here, because not only are you building your life, but we're also building

our families. And how will you build your family's life? And then, of course, we look at the storms. I did forget one comparison. I did forget one way in which they were alike. Because they were alike in that they faced the exact same storms. Did you notice that? Notice what it says in verse 25. Speaking of the wise man, it says, But then when you look at the foolish man and the way he built his house in verse 27, notice

what it says. When he was done building, it says, The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, and they slammed against that house. Did you notice that? Did you notice that the storms are exactly the same? The storms are no different, whether you're the wise man or the foolish man. You see, we can't buy into this idea that once we get saved, once we come to know Jesus

Christ as our Lord and Savior, there's no more problems in life. I do fear sometimes that that's the way the gospel is sold in our culture today. We've addressed this in previous weeks. But the gospel is sold as a way to have a better life, forgetting that whether you're saved or whether you're not saved, you still face the same storms of life. And how does that apply to us?

It applies to us because of the things that happen in our lives. You see, those storms that are referred to, those are the trials that happen in our lives. I started thinking back on some of the trials that we maybe have gone through in 2021, or perhaps the trials we've been through in life, or the storms that can sometimes rock the foundation of our lives. And I made a short list here because that's what I like to do, because I think that these drive these things home.

I think one of the storms of life that we can go through has to do with financial downfall. Matter of fact, I think one of the great... One of the greatest ways to reveal the foundation that our lives are built upon is whether or not our finances are being trusted with God or whether or not they're being trusted in the world. And sometimes the storms that we face is the loss of everything.

I'm reminded of when my wife and I moved down here and the foundation of our lives financially was shaken when we had to spend all of our savings to sell our house just to move down here because we bought at the wrong time and we sold at the wrong time. And God... God very much rocked the foundation of our house with whether or not we were trusting in God for our finances. Sometimes those storms that we go through, the rain and the winds that beat against our house have to do with financial things.

Sometimes the storms that we face have to do with the medical diagnosis. Perhaps your life was going really well until all of a sudden you heard that word cancer. And now you have to deal with, how am I going to handle the fact that I just received the diagnosis that I never wanted? The diagnosis that I never wanted to hear, the diagnosis that I never wanted to deal with.

And it will shake the foundation of your life. Perhaps it's not cancer, perhaps it's some other issue, but no matter what it is, those medical things that we face, those shake the foundation of who we are and whether you're saved or whether you're unsaved, you deal with the fact that medical issues are things that we deal with in this world and they can rock the very foundation of who we are because when you get that diagnosis and all you can do is sit down and say, whoa. Because now you have to deal with it. It rocks the foundation of how your house is built.

And may I say it reveals the foundation of how your house is built. Perhaps some sort of tragedy that you've faced. I've had the opportunity to not only walk through some of these this year, but walk many people through these this year. The tragedy of the loss of a child, the tragedy of the loss of a parent, the tragedy of the loss of a loved one or of a friend who you were very close.

And that can rock the foundation of the house. It can rock the foundation because it can test how well your house is actually built because I have seen more than one family be completely torn apart by a loss, be completely torn apart by how they will divide up the money, be completely torn apart by how they will handle the grief, be completely torn apart because one person deals with grief in a very emotional way. Another person handles grief in a very cognitive way. And one can't understand the other because they don't realize everybody grieves differently.

But that tragedy just rocked the very foundation of the house. And now you don't know if it can continue to stand. Another storm that can come into our lives is the loss of property. A lot of people in the Midwest have dealt with that this year. A lot of people in the Midwest have dealt with that this month as they have dealt with storms that came through. Actual storms where their actual house.

Got destroyed. And they have to sit and say, what was my house built on? Not my house, my physical house, but my personal house. What was my life built on? Was it built on the status of the home that I owned? Or was it built upon Jesus Christ as my one foundation? And I can look just like Job and say, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

But when we lose that home, when we lose that business, when we lose that thing that we'd poured all of our life into. What do we do? It rocks our foundation. I think mental illness is another one of those things that can test the very fabric of our faith. What do you mean, Ryan? We're Christians. We're not supposed to deal with mental illness. That's not true.

You know, depression is the most prevalent mental disease in the nation today, and it's on the rise. Anxiety is second to it, and it's on the rise. And just because you love Jesus doesn't mean you're not subject to depression and anxiety. It doesn't mean that you're not subject to the exhaustion that leads to all kinds of other issues. It doesn't mean that you're not subject to some of these mental illnesses because our

minds need as much care as our bodies do. And what happens when you say, but I'm a Christian, I shouldn't have to deal with fill in the blank here, and all of a sudden you start dealing with it, and you say, oh no, my foundation was built upon my pride, not upon Jesus. I think marital issues are another thing that rocked the foundation of our home, and we've seen that happen. Friends, I have seen that happen in so many people this year.

You have no idea how many people I've talked to whose marriages have been destroyed this year, whose marriages have been destroyed, and it all started because there was an issue within their marriage, and because there was an issue in their marriage, it revealed the fact that their family home, their family life together was not built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. It was built upon shifting sand, and because it was built upon shifting sand, their house fell apart. And you know as well as I do that when your family spiritual home falls apart, that your personal spiritual home falls apart too, or maybe it's vice versa, that when you personally fall apart spiritually, it has an effect on your family. These are the storms.

These are the storms that come in and rock our homes. And then, of course, there is that storm of failure. You poured your heart and your life and your soul. Maybe it was into something. Maybe it was a business endeavor. Maybe it was a project. Maybe it was a home that you were actually trying to build, and what you actually found is that you failed. And what do you do now?

Brothers and sisters, these are the storms that come at us. This is the rain that comes down. These are the winds that beat against the house. These are the storms. These are the storms that batter our homes, and we have a decision to make. What is our home going to be built on? Because that will determine the outcome, because the outcome, the end result of our home, of

course, there's an application or a, excuse me, an explanation for that too, because while we saw that physical houses either stood or fell because of the rocks that they were built on or the sand that they were built on, the same is true of our lives. Because you see, our lives can crumble. Sometimes they'll crumble on this side of eternity. And that's probably the best thing that can happen to us if they've been built in the wrong way, because if they crumble on this side of eternity, we can say, I see where I need to rebuild.

But sometimes that house falling has eternal implications to it. It has eternal results to it, because if we live a life built on the wrong thing, then in eternity, our house will fall. And so that is the comparison. So now let's make the application, shall we? Because let's read over it again and see what he has to say. He says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to

a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they slammed against that house, yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew, and they slammed against the house, and it fell, and great was its fall.

Now, there's two things I take note of as far as application is concerned here. Two things that I take note of that Jesus points out as to how we can have the right kind of home, as how we can build the right kind of family, the right kind of life, so that they won't be destroyed. The first thing I take note of is that we are to take in the Word of God. Did you notice what he says?

Did you notice what he says? Everyone who, first of all, hears these words of mine. Now, I think that this is important, especially as we begin to approach a new year, because we should be people who take in the Word of God. You see, you cannot act on the Word of God if you are not first hearing the Word of God, because remember what we're told in the book of Romans?

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the very Word of God. So what does that mean for us? Well, first of all, if we are to take in the Word of God, we must take in the corporate teaching of God. We must take in the corporate teaching of God's Word. That's what you're doing right now. When we show up to church on a Sunday morning, we take in the corporate teaching of God's

Word. You say, Ray, aren't you supposed to be talking about your personal devotional time right now? I will, but I think this first thing is really, really important, because the corporate teaching of God's Word is what we have lost in the past year and a half. One of the things I'm blessed about with our church is that we have made that decision that we are going to keep coming to church.

One of the things, as much as I appreciate the fact that we have this online situation, and I know that there's people that are blessed by it, because I know there's people that cannot get out of their homes, or they're sick, or they're on vacation, or something like that, and they can hear the Word of God. What a beautiful thing, but the unfortunate thing about going online with the hearing of the Word of God is people decide that coming to church to hear the corporate teaching of God's Word is no longer important, because, hey, I'll just tune in online, right? Here's the problem with tuning in online. You miss out on all the fellowship.

Do you know what else you miss out on? You miss out on hearing. Hearing that convicting Word with somebody who knows you sitting right next to you, looking at you going.

Sometimes we need that from the people that we sit around that know us, but we can't have people that we sit around that know us if we don't ever show up for the corporate teaching of God's Word. Now, listen, the corporate teaching of God's Word is very much exampled in the Scriptures. I was thinking about this this morning, and I thought about three different examples from Scripture. The first one has to do with the very end of the book of Deuteronomy.

You remember what happens at the very end of the book of Deuteronomy? Really, ultimately, the entire book of Deuteronomy. It is Moses recounting for the people in a very corporate way everything that God did for the nation of Israel from delivering them to Egypt to bringing them to the edge of the promised land, wherein Joshua would then take over and take them into the land. But how did he deliver this to the people?

He called them all together. And as he called them all together and told them everything that had happened, they all assented together to the fact that they would follow God because they had heard what God had done. And now they can hold each other accountable because as they've heard it together, they can push each other on towards greatness together. They can push each other on in their obedience of God's Word together.

That's the first example that I thought of is with Moses with the children of Israel. The second example I thought of came out of the book of 2 Kings. Do you remember the story of Josiah? I know we've talked about it before. The story of Josiah where the nation was in complete apostasy, and as the nation was in complete apostasy, along comes this little eight-year-old king who was raised under the

tutelage of a high priest who taught him the truth, who kept him pure and preserved for the things of God. But you know what they didn't have every day? They didn't have the corporate reading of God's Word. Why? Because they couldn't even find the book of the law. And around the time that Josiah was, I believe he was about 26 years old, if I remember correctly,

he put some people in charge of rebuilding the temple, of remodeling the temple so that they could get back into the temple for the worship of God again. And while they were remodeling the temple, they found the Word of God, they found the law, the book of the law, and they brought it to Josiah. And do you remember what Josiah did? He heard the reading of the Word, he heard the reading of the law, and he tore his clothes because he realized that they were so disobedient to God's law.

And as they were so disobedient to God's law, he knew that God's judgment was coming, and so he pled for mercy. And of course, the prophet came to him and said, here's what you need to know because of the way you react. I will withhold my judgment during your time as king, but make no bones about it. Judgment has to come because the sins of the people are too great.

And so what does Josiah do? Well, what he could have done is he could have said, well, that was a really good word for me. It's important for me to hear this. Now, what did he do? He called all of the people together, remember? And when he called all of the people together, he stood in a place where everybody could hear him. And when he stood in the place where everybody could hear him, he read God's Word publicly,

he read the entire law publicly, and do you know what happened? The Holy Spirit moved in that place. The Holy Spirit moved in the midst of all of those people. Why? Because where two or three are gathered together, I am right there in their midst, and there is power in numbers when it comes to that moving of the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit moved amongst the people, they were weeping and they were confessing

their sins to the Lord. Why? Because they were hearing God's Word in a very public sort of way. They were hearing God's Word in a corporate sort of way. And there was great mercy. There was a movement of the Spirit because of it. But do you know that wasn't the last time that we saw God's Spirit move in a group of people? I'm reminded of the book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit fell on the church, when the Holy

Spirit fell on the disciples, and it appeared as great tongues of fire, and they all started speaking in a different tongue, and everybody said, great, they've started drinking already. And Peter said, no, no, no, no, men and brethren, gather around, we're not drunk. And he began to give them an entire sermon about the prophecy of Joel and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now, this was the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and that they should repent so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of God.

And what happened that day? 3,000 people got saved. Why? Because they heard the corporate teaching of the Word of God. You see, it's exampled all throughout Scripture. But not only is it exampled throughout Scripture, it's commanded in Scripture. What are we told in the book of Hebrews? In the book of Hebrews, we're told not to forsake. We're told not to forsake the assembling together as brethren, as some tend to do.

Why is that given to us? Because God knew that the tendency of us as human beings would be to isolate ourselves, to pull away from the pack, to pull away from the group. Why is that our tendency? Because in the midst of the assembly, there is conviction. In the midst of the assembly, there is accountability. In the midst of the assembly, you can't just hide.

You can't just hide yourself in your sin. You have to be who you are in front of people. Therefore, we must gather together. We must gather together as brothers and sisters. We must gather together as family so that we can hear the Word of God together. You see, the corporate teaching of God's Word is absolutely essential to the building of our homes. It's absolutely essential to the building of my home.

It's absolutely essential to the building of my house. So what's the first thing he says? He says, you have to take in the Word of God. And the first way that we do that is by taking it in with the corporate teaching of God's Word. But of course, there's another way that we look at the taking in of the Word of God. And that is our own personal study of God's Word.

Because while it is incredibly important for us to hear God's Word together, and I could go on forever about how important it is for us to hear God's Word together, it's also important for you to hear God's Word on your own. Again, this is something that we've been commanded to do in the Word. We've been commanded to take in God's Word. As a matter of fact, we're told, Your Word, O Lord, have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.

It's important that we take in what God's Word has to say in a very personal way. Matter of fact, there's a little spot in Haley's Bible Handbook. If you don't own a Haley's Bible Handbook, I would encourage you to buy it. You can get it for pretty cheap, not very expensive at all. It's a book about that thick. And basically, it gives you a little synopsis of every book of the Bible

and some pertinent information as well. But if you go towards the back of Haley's Bible Handbook, towards the back of Haley's Bible Handbook, there's a little section that says, The Most Important Part of This Book. And what he refers to as the most important part of this book is the encouragement of God's people to be in the Word of God on their own. To be in the Word of God in the same place the pastor is in the Word of God.

For the entire body to be in the Word of God together, individually. So that when you come together, you can share what God is doing through the Word in your own life. And so that personal time in the Word of God is of vast importance. I cannot overstate, it's impossible to overstate how important it is that you be in the Word of God yourself. It would be like me telling you,

you know what the most important thing for you to do is? Eat dinner. Because if you don't, you're going to be really hungry. My youngest daughter doesn't like to eat. She's like her dad used to be. I never, food was something I had to do because my body required it, but I didn't really care that much about it. And my youngest daughter is fascinating to watch.

Poor girl has skin and bones. And sometimes people are like, you should feed that girl. And I'm like, I try so hard to feed that child. But she doesn't like to eat. She could have the most, the most tasty meal ever put right in front of her. It could be a doggone bowl of her favorite ice cream, right? Her favorite kind of ice cream is to go to Brahms and get a cookie dough shake.

That's her favorite thing in the world. It's also mine. That's not the point. Her favorite thing in the world is that. And she'll get the cookie dough shake and she'll come home and she'll take the lid off of it. And she'll eat about seven, eight, maybe nine bites of it. And she'll go, I need a break. Like, what do you mean you need a break? Well, I'm done eating for now.

I need a break. And she'll put it in the freezer. And then, and then later she'll come and she'll eat a few more bites and then she'll put it away. And you know what? Sometimes that's the way we are with the word of God. We read just a little bit and we go, I need a break. And then we never come back to it. And unfortunately, spiritually, we start to get very anemic looking.

And all of a sudden we go, hey, why don't I have very much muscle mass? Why, why do I look like I need to eat constantly? Because we're not taking in enough of God's word. It's important that we take it in personally. It's commanded in scripture, but it's also essential for our lives. You see, when we first start off in the word, we start off drinking the pure milk of the word,

just like a little baby. But eventually we switch over to the meat of the word. We start taking in those more difficult sections. Perhaps you start off just reading a psalm here or there, maybe a couple of little sections out of the gospels, or maybe you just read a devotional book that has a little verse and a little teaching about the verse. That's called the milk of the word of God.

But pretty soon you've got to start getting into the meat of what God's word has to say. In other words, get into God's word for yourself. Don't be content to hear what somebody else has to say about it. Get into it on your own and wrestle with it. Wrestle with those meanings of scripture. Wrestle with verses that you don't agree with, because you're going to find that there's things in the scripture.

You go, I don't agree with that. Eventually you'll find that you were the one that was wrong, but you don't agree with it when you first read it. Like I struggle with this and God's like, that's fine. I'm content for you to be wrong for right now. And eventually you'll be right when you see it my way. Wrestle with God's word. But that brings me to the fact that we're drawing close

to the beginning of another year. And I have a question for you. Do you know what your reading plan for the year is going to be like? All right, I don't have a plan. Well, then you won't have a devotional life. Isn't that kind of legalistic? No, it's called reality. Reality is if you don't set a plan, if you don't decide this is what I'm going to do to be in the word for 2022,

you will not be in the word for 2022. You'll hit the month of February and go, oh man, I had planned on being in the word of God. I'm going to try harder this month, but you still don't set a plan. And then June will roll along and you'll go, man, my goal for this year was to be in the word of God, but you didn't set a plan. So I want to spend just a couple minutes talking to you

about a plan for you to be in the word of God for yourself. There's a handful of things that you can do. If you own a study Bible, I can almost guarantee in the back of your study Bible, there's a reading plan that will take you all the way through the word of God in a year. And you go, I can never read through the Bible in a year. Sure you can. Sure you can.

You can binge watch something on Netflix, can't you? Well, then you can read through the Bible in a year. You can watch every KU basketball game, can't you? Testify. Then you can be in the word of God. Then you can make it all the way through the Bible in a year. You can watch all the NFL games, can't you? Then you can make it through the word of God in a year.

But you have to decide you're going to set a plan. And perhaps for you, maybe you're like me, and you have a hard time balancing back and forth between the Old and New Testament. That's the one thing I struggle with. With a one-year Bible reading plan. Sometimes I really do have to slow down, and that's okay. Give yourself the freedom to do that. Maybe for you, you need to read through the New Testament in a year.

Maybe for you, you need to read through the Old Testament in a year. Maybe you just need to take one book of the Bible a month and read through that in a month. Whatever it is, you need to set a plan. So in the back of your study Bible, I bet there's a reading plan. Every three months, I put new little devotional books. They're called Our Daily Bread. Many of you take advantage of them.

Do you know that in the Our Daily Bread, not only is there a little verse with a short little reading about what that verse says, but at the very bottom, there's also a Bible reading plan. I would encourage you to take part in that Bible reading plan. Maybe the whole Bible, maybe the Old Testament, maybe the New Testament, but maybe make that your goal. They also have a wonderful creation.

It's called the One-Year Bible. And the One-Year Bible gives you a little bit of an Old Testament, a little bit of a New Testament, a little bit of a Psalm, and a little bit of a Proverb every day. It says you can do it in 15 minutes. I've never been able to do that in 15 minutes. I read too slow. But it's still really good to do. Pick a translation that's different from what you've read before.

There was a fellow, and I've shared his name with you before. His name's Truman Page. I used to live in the section I took care of when I worked at Lakeview Village. And what he told me has always stuck out to me. He said, I choose a different translation of the Bible to read through, every year, because they're all just a little bit different. And I don't get stuck in a rut that way.

And I thought, what a neat idea. Now, sometimes I'll repeat translations, but I usually try to choose a different translation every year. I think the New Living Translation is wonderful, because it says it in a much different way, in a very understandable sort of way, especially when you get into prophetic books, or some of the epistles that get a little hard to read. The English Standard Version has really kind of taken the market by storm.

And it's a great translation as well, and it says it just a little bit differently. Another one that I've been reading here lately that's been really good is called the Christian Standard Bible. Again, an amazingly good translation that causes you to think about things in a little different way. I realize I've spent quite a bit of time on this, but I think it's really important.

Set your plan. You say, Ryan, I always read my phone on my Bible. There are more Bible apps than you can shake a stick at, and I can shake a stick at a lot of things. But there's a lot of Bible apps, and they all have different Bible reading plans on them. Can I make a recommendation to you? Don't use your phone for your Bible. At least not for your personal devotional time.

You know why? Because you know what happens to me when I use my phone? When I use my phone, I get alerts on my phone. Hey, so-and-so just posted something on the Instagram. Hey, you should check out this new article. Hey, look, the world just blew up. You should read this on Fox News, right? Whatever it is. You know, this is the thing that's going on. And do you know what happens?

Because I'm easily distractible, I have the ADHD. I don't really, but I think I do. As I go, whoo, bright and shiny, and I click on that thing, and next thing I know, an hour later, I've been reading articles on the Fox News instead of actually reading my Bible. So you know what I have to do? Put my phone over here and get my paper Bible out and a pen and a highlighter and a journal

and just take in what God's Word has to say. The other thing I always tell everybody to do when you read God's Word, write something down. You see, I don't want anybody to read it, then use the kind of handwriting I do. No one can read it anyway, right? Stop writing so neat. Or put it somewhere where it'll never be seen. I was listening to David Jeremiah talk about this last year.

He said, I have stacks and stacks and stacks of journal pages in my house. He types them all on a computer. I type too slow for that. I like to write it. He said, I have stacks of them that I write the most personal things ever. My wife has already been instructed, the day that I die, she is to have the biggest bonfire ever, with all of those things that I've written.

But he says, the most important thing I do is write down what I've been reading in God's Word, where I'm struggling to obey God's Word and what I got out of what God's Word has to say. And I thought, hey, I do the same thing. I must be doing something right. Write something down about what you're reading because it cements it in your mind. And so it's important that we take in God's Word,

not only the corporate teaching of God's Word, which is what we're doing right now, but also the personal study of God's Word. But it's time to make a plan. It's time to make a plan for this next year as to how you're gonna get into it. But of course, we know from what Jesus says here that there were two aspects of this. We not only were to hear what God's Word has to say,

but we are to act on it. We are to obey God's Word. Oh man, it just got hard, didn't it? Shoot. Everything was great when I could read it and go, ah, what a great verse. What a great little section of Scripture. I really appreciated that. As a matter of fact, when you read through the Sermon on the Mount, it's a great section of Scripture until you think to yourself,

but now I have to live it out. Well, we can have a danger of over-familiarity in the church because we've heard a lot of the Word of God. We've heard a lot of things over and over again. There can be that danger of over-familiarity. I've heard it so much. I love what it says, but then I walk out the door and I forget it. Well, we're given commands in Scripture

about obeying God, this isn't the only place where it says it. As a matter of fact, let's do a little Bible searching, shall we? Let's go a couple of different places in Scripture. First of all, go over to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. We'll read the whole thing. That's not true. We're not going to do that. Psalm 119, and I want you to look at verse 9. We really could read the whole thing,

and the entire thing would tell you, know God's Word, obey God's Word. That's how I would sum up Psalm 119. But take note of what Psalm 119, verse 9 says.

Do you know what basically he just said there? How can I keep my way pure by doing what your Word has to say? Not just knowing what it has to say, although I think knowing what it has to say is of utmost importance because I can't obey what I don't know. But you see, if I only know what it has to say, then it's done me no good. It's kind of like what I like to do

with fitness articles, right? So the other thing we always come to when we come to a new year is New Year's resolutions. I don't make them. I set goals for myself because that sounds better than a resolution, right? Sounds a little more 2021. So I set goals for myself, and I know that one of the main goals that most people set for themselves is to eat better, exercise, and diet.

Now, here's what I'm really good at doing when it comes to fitness. I like to sit down with a glass of milk and some cookies, and I like to read an article about how I should eat. And as I read this article about how I should eat, I think to myself, that's a great article. Isn't it amazing what it says? All of these fruits and vegetables do all of these things for your body.

They can cleanse you. They can make you feel better. And you should drink more water, probably less coffee, definitely less soda. And I read them, and I'm like, that is exactly what I should do. What a great article. What great scientific information. What wonderful things that he's done. As a matter of fact, if I want to keep my body pure, I should keep it according to the principles

that are given in that article. And then do you know what I do? I pour myself another glass of milk, and I grab five more chocolate chip cookies because I don't intend on doing any of it. And it sounds really funny when it's a fitness article. It's a whole other thing when it's the Word of God because we sit down, and we read what God's Word has to say, and we say, that's great information.

He's just identifying everything wrong in my life. He's just giving me the way I can be set free from all these things in my life. Oh, well, I'll do that later, forgetting that later doesn't exist. Well, there's one more place I'd like to take you, and it's a familiar place. You can probably say it in your head right now, but let's turn there because it's fun.

I want you to go over to the book of James, and I want you to look at chapter 1, verses 22 through 25. James 1, 22 through 25.

This is what James 1, verse 22 says. But prove yourself doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was, but one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Boy, I wonder where James, the half-brother of Jesus, I wonder where he heard that. I wonder where he got that idea. Perhaps it was from what Jesus says right here, as far as the wise man and the foolish man who not only hear what God's Word has to say, but then do what God's Word has to say. You see, we can hear all of the things that God's Word has to say, but until we put it into action for ourselves, it does us absolutely no good.

But do you know what I find? Do you know what I find in myself? I find an impossibility to do what God's Word has to say. You see, here would be the point in time where I could turn this into a very legalistic thing. I could begin to put a list of works on you that you should be doing in order to be a doer of God's Word, but you know as well as I do that as we read through

the Sermon on the Mount, what were many of the things that we found ourselves saying? It probably fell into two different categories, the first category was, I'm guilty. The second category was, man, that's hard to do, right? If you're like me, those are the two categories everything I said fed into when I read the Sermon on the Mount. When I read those Beatitudes

about all of those godly attitudes of the kingdom, I thought, oh, that's so good, but I struggle so much. When he said, your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, otherwise you'll never see the kingdom, I went, oh, be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. That's hard to do. That's hard to do. That's hard to do. I can't do that.

When he said, you are the salt and the light, as a matter of fact, if you're the wrong salt and light, you bring destruction and death to people's lives, I went, oh, how much I end up being the wrong kind of salt and light. When it came to judging others, I was like, I don't struggle with that, but that guy's a loser, right? It's just hard to do. When it said, don't think with hatred in your heart towards other people, otherwise that's the same as murder, I went, shoot.

There goes that death sentence. When it said, don't look with lust, I went, oh, no. When it said all of these things, I had to say, I'm guilty, and it's impossible. You see, the thing that we can do with a section like this is we can turn it into a list of works that we can't do. I'm reminded of what Andrew Murray in his book, Absolute Surrender, has to say.

He says, the key that we must understand is that if we have begun in the spirit, we cannot now be made perfect by the flesh. You see, what I find is that the key to being a doer of God's word, the key to obeying what God's word has to say, actually came to us at the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Look over at chapter five. Notice what it says. It says,

when Jesus saw the crowds, verse one, he went up on the mountains, and he sat down, and his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth, and he began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs, as the kingdom of heaven. You know what I find in that one verse? I find the key to what he just told us in this very last section. He said,

you should not only hear what God's word has to say, but you should act on what God's word had to say. But if you're like me, you say, but I can't because it's impossible for me. You have just reached step number one of being a doer of God's word. Because what does he say we're blessed if we are? Poor in spirit. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? To have a realistic,

evaluation of who I am. You see, if I want to be a doer of God's word, if I want to obey what God's word has to say, I must first understand that it is impossible for me to do what God's word has to say. And I must seek something outside of myself. I must seek a savior. I must seek a savior that I can build my life on. Because you see, this foundation is not just

obeying all of the do's and don'ts that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. This foundation, this foundation, this foundation, this foundation, is not just a list of rules and regulations that we are to keep. This foundation is a person because this foundation is Jesus Christ. Because the wise man will build his life on the understanding that he cannot do it himself, but God can.

Because Jesus is sufficient. Because the work of Jesus in my life is first of all the work of salvation and then the work of sanctification and then the work of glory and glorification when he takes me home to be with him. But he cannot work that in my life if I am still struggling and striving in myself to try to do it. You see, that's one of the keys of the Sermon on the Mount is to strip from us all self-righteousness so that we will find our one place of righteousness and our one foundation in Jesus Christ.

He says, the wise man builds his house upon a rock and that rock is Jesus. And when the storm comes, and when the rains come, and when the winds blow and beat against the house, it will stand. Why? Because it's been built upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it's been built upon the strength of Jesus Christ.

And so last of all, we come to the conclusion. Go back over to chapter 7. Notice what it says in verse 28. It says, and when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one having authority and not as the scribes. You see, as it finished up, as Jesus finishes this sermon, all of the people sat there and went,

they were in absolute awe and amazement at what Jesus had to say. Why? Because Jesus simply told the truth. And he told the truth with authority. You see, the teaching style at this point in time among the scribes and the Pharisees was for them to say, well, this is what it says and this is what we think it means. And so this is what you should do. But there was no

authority behind it. There was constant quoting of other teachers. There was constant quoting of opinions. But there was never just the this is what it says and this is what it means. They were not authoritatively teaching the word of God. What were they teaching? The opinion of man. They were continually teaching the opinion of man. Listen, you can take my opinion at $4.95

and go get yourself a cup of coffee at Starbucks. But that's about it. That's all you can do with it. Because if I only give you my opinion, there's no authority behind it. So why did Jesus have so much authority? Well, because he was Jesus. Yeah, because he was Jesus. But also because he taught the word. He told them the truth of what God had to say. You see, we can have

this same kind of authority. Not that we can meet Jesus. But you can have the authority of the word of God. Because there's nothing as authoritative as but this is what the word of God has to say. Because then all of a sudden there's no question about it. There's no question any longer because you have just called down the authority of the word of God in that particular area.

And they were all in amazement. And so as we wrap up this morning and as we wrap up this section of the Sermon on the Mount, I think in the same way that Jesus brought them to this point, I think it's time that we have a time of examination. How are you building your home? What does your foundation look like? Perhaps you like me have seen the foundation somewhat tested this year.

Perhaps you've seen the storms come, the winds blow, the rains fall down and beat against the house. And you've had time to examine your foundation. Perhaps you have found that there's areas of your foundation that are not as strong as they should. For some people, their foundation they have found is completely made of sand. It's made of sand because they never really

put their faith in Jesus. And it's made of sand because they've never really taken time to obey what God's Word has to say, starting by saying, I can't do this myself. How are you building your home? As I was thinking about this this morning and making this outline, I started thinking about all the commercials that I hear about on the radio. You know what a lot

of the commercials that I hear are? Do you have cracked foundations? Is your home in need of foundation repair? Call 1-800-WE-FIX-IT or whatever it is. We fix foundations. We can resettle your foundation. And you know what I thought as I was preparing this this morning? It's never too late to repair your foundation. It's never too late to repair your foundation

because that's what God's able to do in our lives. He's able to repair that foundation. If you have found that the foundation that your house is built upon is like sinking sand, perhaps all of the things of this year, all of the things of the past few months, maybe even the past few weeks have rocked the foundation of who you are and you go, man, it sure feels like my house is shifting. It feels like it might fall down.

Well, then today's a really good day to start rebuilding that foundation on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. The solid rock of taking in what God's word has to say, declaring your own inability to obey it and trusting completely in Him to do the work in you that needs to be done. But it starts with you admitting that the foundation is a little bit faulty. It starts with us taking time to examine ourselves and saying, this is where it's crumbling and Lord, this is where it needs some work.

And allowing Him to do the work that needs to be done. And allowing Him to do the work to rebuild that foundation in your life. Amen? Let's all stand.

Well, it's time for the tree to come down. It's time for the decorations to be put away. And unfortunately, it's time for the world to stop talking about Jesus until Easter when they'll start talking about Him again on accident. But it's not time for us to stop talking about Him. And it's not time for us to put away the spirit of Christmas, which is Jesus having come

to save us from the dead. It's not time for us to stop from our sins. It's instead time to start building on that foundation. Father, we come before you and thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. I thank you for how good you are to us or how patient you are with us. And Lord, that you are truly a God who reveals the issues so that you can

repair our foundations. And so Lord, use your word as you see fit. Again, let my opinion go away. Let the words of Ryan disappear. And Lord, may the truth of your word stand strong and work in the lives of all those that are here today. We thank you for who you are and ask that your Holy Spirit would be with us as we go out from this place. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Be blessed.

Now the God of hope all joy and peace in believing bless you.