The Scariest Passage in Scripture

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on March 26th 2023  by Colin D Cruz. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

The Scariest Passage in Scripture

Matthew 7:21-23 ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The is the scariest portion of the scripture. Isn’t it?

Mathew 7:24-27 - ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

We’ve all heard sermon on the mount. This is the greatest sermon preached by the greatest person. Towards end of this sermon, Jesus tells us about 2 things –

Matthew 7:21-23 and Mathew 7:24-27

1.   Matthew 7:21-23:

Matthew 7:21 - ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

In this verse, we see “Lord, Lord”. The word “Lord” is said twice. The meaning of this is that the person using this has a deep intimate connection with the other person. The person saying to Jesus had a deep intimate connection with Jesus. But how did Jesus respond to this person? He responded saying not everyone who calls him “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Isn’t that scary? Only those who do the will of God enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:22-23 - ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Many may explain things which they did. Things like prophesying, performing miracles etc., but if they haven’t done the will of the Father, then Jesus would say that He never knew them and he would call them evildoers.

Matthew 7:20 - ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Jesus is saying that if you really want him to be the Lord of your life, then there must be some fruit. Anybody can say, “I Love Jesus, I follow Jesus”. That’s not enough. Jesus says that the proof of our faith in Him is our fruit.

In John 15, Jesus talks about obedience to His commands. He says that if we really love Jesus, we will obey and keep His commands.

2.   Matthew 7: 24-27: 

This is a parable of 2 men who have a few things in common, a few in contrast and a conclusion. Let us call them Rocky and Sandy.

Both the men heard the Word of God

Both built houses.

Both houses were tested

Both the houses looked the same. When we see some nice building, do we say, “Wow! What a great foundation!”?

Let us look at the foundation on which these men built their houses.

The first man, our Rocky –

Matthew 7:24 - ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 

Rocky was called wise by Jesus. He heard the Word of God and put them into practice. He is like a house built on rock.

The depth of the foundation determines the height of the building. Digging is hard work. He kept digging till he hit the rock and that’s where he started building the foundation. 

The second man Sandy –

Matthew 7:26 - ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Sandy was called foolish by Jesus. No effort is required to build a house in sand. He heard the Word of God but did not put it into practice.

We are all building something – our lives, marriage, families etc. What is our foundation? Without the foundational principles, it may not withstand.

Both the men faced the same storm.

Some people say that when you come to Jesus, all your problems will be gone. But what does the Bible say? 

John 16:33 - ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

When we give our lives to Jesus, we will face storms in our lives. But what’s the difference? The difference is that Jesus is with us in those storms. He is with us in the same boat.

Storms are very important in our lives. Either we have just come out of one, entering one or very much going through one.

Storms reveal the foundation on which we’re being built. People may say that they’re facing storms because they came to Jesus. Others may say that even amid the storm, Jesus is with me and I will not waver.

Storms can be minor, or major or sometimes they are just consequences.

Just rain could be minor. But rain, wind, and floods all three together are major.

Some people mix up storms with consequences.

For example, suppose you went on a vacation, came back and found that everything inside the fridge is rotten because of no electricity.

If the electricity had gone for some valid reason, then that’s a storm. But if the electricity had gone because you didn’t pay the electricity bill, then that’s a consequence. 

Why do these storms occur?

1 Peter 1:6-7 - ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

Verse 6 says that there will be grief. But verse 7 says why we go through storms. During storms, our faith is tested. It depends on how we respond.

Storm is an opportunity to glorify God. During this, we dig deep into and reconcile.

During a financial crisis, do we stop ourselves from giving our tithes and offerings or be generous in our giving?

Every time we are in a storm or a hard situation, we must always think about how God wants us to respond. God wants us to become like His Son Jesus. We build our lives little by little with God’s Word.

People who obey God’s commands are like the person building his house on a rock. Storm came and it did not fall. People who don’t obey God’s commands are like the person building his house in the sand. Storm came but it fell with a great crash. 

John 13: 17 - ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

You will be blessed if you do what you hear.

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.