Assurance in the Kingdom
Kingdom Living

Transcript

Good morning, church. It is good to see all of you here this morning. Can you believe it? We're at the end of our sixteen-week journey through the Sermon on the Mount. It's been sweet.

We're finishing up the Sermon on the Mount this morning. We've entitled this series, “Kingdom Living” because it's a description of what kingdom life looks like for those who call Jesus king. It's been both a challenge and a joy to study this sermon together with you. I have to admit, I kind of hate to finish. I believe we could have divided it up, finished and gone through the whole year.

There's so much “meat on the bone” that we still didn't get to chew on. But, it's time to finish it up today; we will finish this series. Jesus has been talking to us about what kingdom life looks like. It's been called “the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived.” I have to admit, studying it, that everything in here is so original, so amazing that it's so amazing to just study the words of Jesus.

He's called us to a righteousness here in this passage. He calls it to be from the inside out rather than the outside in. He calls us to a righteousness that surpasses the external rules and regulations of the Pharisees and of the Scribes. He calls us to a place of transformation so that we truly become His followers. As He closes this sermon, He closes it really with a sober warning as well as a generous invitation, a gracious invitation.

He calls us to an examination of our hearts to really check and see what is our profession of faith. What do we really believe? What is it we claim as a follower or not? The question I think is, “Can you have real assurance of faith?” Can you have real assurance that you're a Kingdom member, that you're a member of God's kingdom?

There are many today who profess that they're believers. They say, ‘I'm a Christian.’ They try to live a good life. They make a profession of faith. Maybe, they're baptized or have even joined the church.

But, the challenge that Jesus gives, as He finishes this message, is He says those outward things may or may not be true because “Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now, that's a disturbing thing. He teaches in this passage today that there's a difference between an outward expression and an inward transformation. The outward is important, but the inward is necessary. This is what He's talking about today as He brings His sermon to a close.

He contrasts superficial faith with sincere, saving faith. He calls us to examine ourselves in Matthew 7:21-29. As we finish this sermon and as Christ closes out His sermon, He ends with both a warning and an invitation to a sincere faith that can bring real assurance of our place in His kingdom. I believe, as we look at the text today, we'll see three ways that we can have this assurance of our place in God's kingdom. Let's read the text and then we'll “unpack” it together, starting at verse 21.

Matthew 7:21-29 (ESV) 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” This is God's word. Amen.

1. Knowing that saying is not the same as submitting.

We're looking for three ways we can have assurance of our place in God's kingdom. Here's the first: It's by knowing that saying is not the same as submitting. Just saying a thing is not the same as truly submitting your heart in obedience to King Jesus. He warns against a mere verbal profession that just says “Lord, Lord” with the mouth, without a transformation, a change in the life.

He says that it’s not enough just to say “Lord, Lord.: He repeats it twice. These people say to Me, “Lord, Lord.” They don't just say “Lord” once. They go around saying it a lot.

That “Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord…” They say it a lot. And they have a lot of, well, “religious” references. They've got public credibility.

He says, in verse 22, “On that day…” What day? Well, now we're talking about the future, because He says, 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,”

So, there are people that are saying it right now. You might even be saying it: ‘Yeah. I'm a Christian. I call Jesus Lord.’

You're saying it, but your walk doesn't match your talk.

You haven't actually said, ‘He's king of my life and I do what He says.’ So you're saying it, but you're not obeying it. And he says that there are many that won't enter the kingdom of heaven. Then, He says, “On that day.” Now, what day is He talking about?

Well, He's talking future tense now. So, we can't help but see this as an eschatological day. I think you could capitalize that and call that the Day of Judgment. It seems so, because of how He describes it here. 22 “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’”

’Didn't we preach?’ There's going to be preachers.

There's going to be people that you looked up to; they were preachers, but they weren't real. They were false prophets. Remember, that He talked about them the last time we were meeting?

There's some false proclaimers. They're going to be people casting out demons in your name. Didn't we do miracles, mighty works in Your name? These are all external religious activities.

What He says is that these are outward things; these are verbal expressions. These are outward things; they are not what matters. What really matters is, ‘Are you in a relationship with Jesus?’ Here's what He says. He says, “and then will I.” It's future tense.

He's describing that future day when people come. In verse 21, “On that day, they will say, “Lord, Lord…” They've been saying, “Lord, Lord.” They will say, “Lord, Lord.”

Then, He says, 23 “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
You did all those things in my name, but I didn't know you. You weren't in a relationship with Me.

Now, you're here this morning. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you came. Maybe some of you are thinking, You know, I get a little extra favor with God this week. I'm checking off a box.

I went to church. Maybe, God will give me a little credit for that this week and I can have a good week. I can go live how I want to now. I've checked off the church box. So, somehow that gives me favor with God.

I've earned some favor. Maybe, some of you are even thinking, You know, I'm gonna put some money in the bucket, that will surely get me favor with God. I'm gonna come down and take the Lord's Supper. That's an outward expression. Or, maybe some of you are in ministry.

You're a small group leader. You're on the worship team or you're working with the children. You're thinking, I know these outward expressions are gonna give me favor with God. Here's what Jesus could say to you and to me, “I never knew you”

because it's not about religious record keeping, regulations and rules. You're saved by grace, through faith. He did all the work and He invites you to a relationship. He says, “depart from me. I never knew you.”

Perhaps, as we look at this passage, it might be important to just “unpack” a little bit here. We see that what they say is, ‘Lord, Lord, didn't we do this for you? Didn't we do that for you? Didn't we do these amazing things for you?’ Then, Jesus will say, “I will declare…”

The word, “declare,” is the Greek word, “homologeō.” It means to say a thing in a declarative way, to say the same word. It's often translated, “confess.” I will confess.

I will declare. It has kind of a judicial sense, a pronouncement kind of sense. It's the same word that Paul uses in Romans 10:9, when he says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord…” It's that same “confess,” “declare.” It's a declaration; He's my master. It's a judicial pronouncement of the will.

It's not just saying it. It's not just mouthing it. It's “I declare.” But then here, He's using it in this context,

“I never knew you.”

‘You claim my name, but I never knew you.’ Here's perhaps the saddest imperative in this whole passage: “Depart from me.” “Depart from me.” That's a command word in Greek.

“Depart from me.” It is startling. We've gone through this sermon. We've heard these pairs, as he's closing these pairs of choices:

the narrow gate or the wide gate. The easy way or the hard way. Destruction or life. There's no third way. There's no middle ground. False prophet or true prophet. Good fruit or bad fruit. True profession or false profession. A true profession

is you're coming into a relationship with Jesus. He's your Lord and Savior. He knows you. You know Him. He says in John, chapter 10, “My sheep know my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

You see, Jesus is not looking for fans. He's looking for followers. He's looking for people who truly say, “You are Lord. You are King. Where is the kingdom of heaven? It's wherever Christ is King.”

Is He King of your life? Then the kingdom has come to your life. Is He king of your house? The kingdom of heaven has come to your house. He says, “I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” The Greek word here is “without law,” “no law.” You're just following your own way. You're not really following Me.

In Paul's second letter to Timothy. He writes this, He says, 2 Timothy 2:19 (ESV) But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” He says that the Lord knows you.

He calls you to a relationship and when He calls you, He calls you out of sin and into righteousness. This heart change is what Jesus is talking about, throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He's moving everything from external to inward. When he says, ‘You've heard it said, thou shalt not commit murder.

But I say, if you've been angry at your brother and called him “raca,” which means empty head, you've committed murder in your heart. You've heard it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery in your heart.’ He's moving everything to the heart level because He's saying, ‘I've done all the work, but if you receive Me by grace through faith, then I will start doing a new work in you.’

You could say it like this, ‘We're saved by grace through faith, not works, but saving faith works.’ ‘We're saved by grace through faith, not works. But saving faith works.’

Tim Keller says it like this. He says, ‘You're saved by faith, not fruit. But you're never saved by fruitless faith.” So, saving faith transforms us. If we place our faith in Christ, it changes us.

In Luke's parallel passage to the Sermon on the Mount, he records Jesus saying this, Luke 6:46-49 (ESV) “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” He connects calling him Lord as a profession of faith with obedience that there's a change, that change you might have, areas that you're still stumbling in. All of us are imperfect.

We're growing. But if you're a born again Christian, you've confessed Jesus truly with your mouth and from your heart, then there's a desire in you now to change and to become more like Him. And when you don't, when you don't obey His word, you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and you want to change. As we talk to people and invite them to church, we say, “Come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus.” Come as you are, but don't stay that way.

This is what saving faith does to us. John addresses this problem in his first epistle of profession without obedience. He says, our talk and walk must match; 1 John 1:6-7 (ESV) 6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” So, as you walk in Jesus, He's cleaning you up. He's doing a perfecting work in you as you submit to His Lordship. John explains that when we have Jesus living in us, we can have assurance. We can know that we know that

we know that He knows us and we know Him,that we have life. Here's what He says in 1 John 2:4-6 (ESV) 4 “Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
And so we begin to change as we follow Jesus as Lord, as King. He does a work. He works

if we work out what He works in us. Do you remember the parable of the two sons? Matthew 21:28-31 talks about these two sons. He says, 28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”

He asked those that were listening that day who was obedient. They say, ‘the first son, the one who said no, but actually obeyed. He was the obedient one.’ Why did Jesus tell this story to the Pharisees?

It's because they had an outward righteousness that confessed one thing, but they did another. He said that He was calling those who might be saying “no” outwardly in their life right now, but they finally say “yes” to Jesus and they do what He says. It's important that our profession matches our walk. He's warning us here.

A mere verbal profession without submission is unacceptable. He's calling us to a relationship. Do you say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ with your mouth, but yet do not bow the knee of your heart to Him? Let's live in obedience to Christ. This is the first warning with an invitation, I will say, that Jesus offers here at the end of his sermon.

2. Understanding that hearing is not the same as heeding.

Here's the second way that we can have assurance: Hearing is not the same as heeding. To heed means to obey. Right now, in verses 24 through 27, He begins to talk about two kinds of builders that build on two different kinds of foundations.

There's been this list of twos, right? Two gates, narrow and wide. Two ways, easy and hard. Two destinations, destruction and life. Two kinds of prophets, false and true.

Two kinds of fruit, good and bad. Right now we've got these two kinds of professions. A true profession and a false one. Now, we have two builders and two types of foundations. He's telling us over and over again there aren't three choices.

There aren't five choices. There are two ways to live: to live for the world or to live for God. To submit to the world and to the flesh, or to submit our lives to Jesus. He makes this very clear.

Now, He begins to speak to those that were hearing. Can you imagine all the people, this great crowd that's seated on the grassy area of that hill that goes up from the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee? I've been there. It's a beautiful, beautiful place. Here's Jesus seated at the top of the mount.

He comes to the close of His sermon. They've been spellbound for this whole time. You can read these three chapters, and you can read them with feeling. It will take about twenty minutes to read it as if you were preaching it, like Jesus may have done it. So, it's not a long message.

I'm preaching longer just on these verses here than He did in the whole sermon. But, they've been spellbound. He says that there were two builders. One was wise and one was foolish. Do you know what they had in common?

They've both heard My words; they have all heard. They were all there. They have heard Him. They have heard the whole Sermon on the Mount.

They all heard it, but they responded in two different ways. They had this in common. They had all heard the word of Jesus, but they responded in two ways. One responded wisely and one foolishly. One was wise and built his house.

Verse 24, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Everything that he's doing in life and his lifestyle is built on the rock. What's the rock?

It's the rock of His Word. It's the rock of Christ Himself. This person said, ‘I've heard the word of Jesus and I'm going to submit my whole life. I'm going to build my life on Jesus.

I'm going to build my life on the word of God.’ I've decided who I will date, if you're a single person. Who I choose to marry, what job or where I will go to school. After I get married, the way I raise my children, the way I treat my spouse, the way I treat my employer at work, the way I treat my neighbor, the way I even love my enemies. I've decided every single detail of my life is going to be built on Jesus. He's my rock.

He's my foundation. He's my cornerstone. You've heard My Word and you build your life on the rock of My Word and on the person of Jesus. Well, there's one other thing that you may have in common with the foolish. They both hear and they both experience storms.

See, coming to Christ doesn't mean you won't get storms. In fact, He promises there will be trouble in this world, but He has overcome the world, He says, so we come into Christ. It doesn't mean we'll avoid storms, but here's what it does mean. After the storm comes, your life will still be standing because you've built your life on the Rock.

It's the same storm.
25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

Whether you're a believer or not, storms come. But the difference is, if you built your life on the Rock of Christ, it'll still stand. But, then what does He say about the foolish one? 26 “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell…” That's not all.

“...and great was the fall of it.” That's the last words of the Sermon on the Mount, “...and great was the fall of it.” I bet you could have heard a pin drop on that hillside. I bet the birds got quiet.

In other words, not one thing of that house remained standing. That house that was built on worldly values, that house that was built on foolish principles. The house that was built on sand fell

and great was its fall. Not a partial fall, a total destruction, the whole structure. James addresses this problem of knowledge. We talked earlier about the problem of profession without obedience, profession without submission. Now we're working on the problem of knowledge without obedience because we're all hearers, and some of you may even know the Bible.

Well, I've encountered seminary professors, and I can't see their hearts. But what they claim, I believe, would lend itself to the possibility that they're not believers. They know a lot, but they don't believe what they know. You can know a lot, you can hear a lot, you can quote a lot,

but do you believe? James addresses this problem of knowledge without obedience. He says, James 1:22-25 (ESV) 22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Now, what's the mirror that John's talking about? He's talking about the Word of God. So, when we look into the Word of God, we see those areas. Just look at the words of the Sermon on the Mount.

We see those areas where we fall short. But grace doesn't condemn us. Grace rescues us and then empowers us through the conviction of the Holy Spirit to transform in those areas. So instead of turning away from the mirror and forgetting what we've seen, we look at it and we say, ‘Oh, Lord, forgive me for that. Thank You for your forgiveness.

Empower me now to change. I get so angry at people. Lord, I know I sin against others. Help me with my anger, Lord. Help me to be patient like You.

Lord, there are people that don't like me and I just want to hurt them back because they hurt me. But now I see in Your word that I'm supposed to be like You. I'm supposed to love not just my neighbor, but I'm supposed to love my enemies, those who have hurt me. I'm supposed to love them back and I can't do it in my own power.’

So, you're looking in the mirror of God's word. You're seeing those places that you fall short but instead of turning away, the wise man keeps building, the wise woman keeps building their life on the rock of God's Word.

It's very easy to understand that image that James gives us. He basically says that if you look at yourself in the mirror and you smile, but you have a piece of broccoli, between your teeth. You think I'm good. I am just going back out into the public. Every time you smile, people are going to say, ‘You have a little something there, you know?’

As you get older, old men, can I get a confession here? You go to the barber and you have like a “wolf” hair sticking out of your eyebrow. I still remember growing up and my papaw Dillon, my mother's father, would take me to the barber. We would go to Scherfy’s Barber Shop and he would get in the chair first. I'd hear Mr. Scherfy say to him, “Hey, Mr. Dillon, do you want me to get those eyebrows?”

“Yeah, you had better get those eyebrows.” “How about your ears?” “Yeah, you had better get them, too.” So, he would get a haircut, an ear cut and an eyebrow cut. As you get older, you get hairs where you don't want them, right?

That's some TMI right there, isn't it, ladies? More than you wanted to know about the men. But, I'd be laughing, laughing at my papaw and papaw would say, “You had better stop laughing, boy. It's coming your way.”

He was right. He was right. He was right. It's like looking in the mirror and saying, ‘I'm just going to let that hair stay over there. I'm not going to cut that or I'm going to keep that piece of broccoli.’

That'd be strange. James is using this imagery to describe what we're like when we look in God's word, instead of repenting and saying, ‘God, forgive me, clean me up and set me back on the right path here. I want to change. I want to be transformed.’

You're saved by faith, not fruit. But you're never saved by fruitless faith. Grace saves through faith, but faith works.

It’s like beach houses on the sand; it made me think of these houses that are falling down. Have you seen the news on the village of Rodanthe? It's on the Outer Banks in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore area. They've experienced a significant number of collapsing beach houses into the ocean.

Over 10 houses have fallen into the ocean since 2020 and recent storms have made it worse, hurricanes and so forth. If you look at these houses, they don't just fall a little bit.

Great is their fall. I couldn't help but think about that, that when storms come and waves surge, it exposes the foundation. It exposes the foundation. And this is the imagery that Jesus is using. If we build our lives on him, when storms come, and they will come, we will still stand.

Our lives will still stand on Him. But, when storms come to those who have built their lives on worldly principles, they've heard the word of God, but they've chosen to go their own way, great is their fall. Jesus has warned us against two unacceptable responses: a merely verbal profession without submission is unacceptable and a merely intellectual knowledge without obedience is unacceptable.

3. Recognizing that amazement is not the same as allegiance.

Now, in these final verses, we're confronted with the person Himself: Jesus has finished His sermon. Now, let's look at how the crowd responds in these final two verses, because in this final section, we can see that recognizing that amazement is not the same as allegiance. Recognizing that amazement is not the same as allegiance. They are amazed.

They are astonished. Look at what it says. 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” When Jesus finished these sayings, when He finished the Sermon on the Mount, I think there was a long pause of quiet

and the crowds were astonished when He finished. They were astonished. They were amazed. The word, “astonished,” in the original Greek could have the idea of being struck by amazement.

They were thinking, What was that that we just heard? This idea of astonishment depicts an ongoing feeling of wonder even as they're traveling home. I don't even know if they were talking to each other on the way home. They were so pierced.

What do they take note of? ‘He taught as one who had authority.’ “Exousia” in the Greek is the idea of power. He's not like the scribes who are quoting other rabbinic writings. They're footnoting what they say.

They're trying to get credibility.

Here's who said this, here's who said that. Not Jesus. He quotes Himself. He does it on His own authority. He speaks as if He were God. They never heard anyone speak like this before.

They're astonished. They're amazed. They've never heard anyone speak like this. But, that's not the same as allegiance, because Jesus is not looking for fans.

He's calling followers. He's not just looking for people that say, ‘Jesus, you're a cool guy.’ You know, you hear people today, in the culture today, say, ‘I don't like Christians, but I got to say, I'm attracted to Jesus.’

I don't know if they've really actually read the Bible, because He can say some hard things, but He's a person that people are astonished by; they're amazed by. People have an emotional response to Him. But may I say to you, that's not enough. That's not enough.

You know, when I first started dating my wife, Robin, I had an emotional response. I did. Is this love? Do I love her?, which then engaged the intellect, because you start thinking, Okay, she's beautiful to the eyes.

She's attractive to me. I like the way she lives. You know, she's a believer in Jesus. You know, she's got a great family. So now I'm kind of moving past just the emotional attraction to what I'm learning about her.

So that's intellect, right? But, we're still not married. Do you know why? Because emotion and intellect doesn't make you married. It is an act of the will.

I had to say to her, “Will you marry me?” and she said, “I will marry you.” Then, we stood before God in the church and said, “I do.” The emotion was necessary. It drew us.

The intellect was very important, the knowledge, because we could see that we were meant for each other. We felt we were, to the best of our knowledge, but we weren't married until we said, “I do.” These people are astonished. They are feeling emotional. They're wrapped in wonder at what they've heard and the authority of the person of Jesus.

His words were overwhelmingly wonderful. We want to be part of this kingdom, but we don't know if we are ready. It is an act of the will, as an act of the heart, because, in the Bible, the heart embraces all three components of the emotion, the intellect and the will.

They were astonished, but not all of them would believe. Assurance is more than astonishment. In John, chapter one, we read, John 1:12 (ESV) “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” It's important to understand. It's great that you're moved by the words of Jesus.

That's wonderful. That's the wooing of the Spirit, the joy and the peace that's being offered. But, have you received Him as your own king, as your own Lord? Have you believed in Him as the source of life for you? You can have assurance of this.

In 1 John, John says, 1 John 5:11-13 (ESV) 11 “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

What's the test? Are you in a relationship with Jesus? Have you received Him as your Lord and Savior? Have you believed upon Him? Is He yours and you are His? Then, you can be assured.

Throughout history, people have been amazed by Jesus. Thomas Jefferson was amazed by Jesus. He made his own New Testament. He didn't really feel called to Him as the Son of God, but more of a great moral teacher. So, he took a New Testament and cut out all the supernatural elements and all the elements that pointed to the divinity of Jesus and was just left with rules and regulations.

That was the “Jefferson New Testament.” He never received them as his own. Mahatma Gandhi, the famous Hindu, said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians.” He was very impressed with the Sermon on the Mount, which he thought, if anyone could actually live that way, it would be awesome. But, He never accepted Jesus as Savior.

Albert Einstein described Jesus as that luminous figure of the Nazarene. H.G. Wells called him “The most dominant figure in all history.” In these two great intellects, they were impressed by Jesus, but never bowed to Him in faith. Even the Qur’an, that holy book of the Muslims of Islam, even the Qur’an claims that Jesus was a great prophet, that He performed miracles.

By the way, there are no miracles recorded by Mohammed, but the Qur’an records many miracles by Jesus, but yet it rejects that He was crucified and raised, that He's the Son of God and denies His divinity. All of these, and I could go on, were astonished and impressed by Jesus. It's not enough to be impressed and amazed. He calls us not to be fans, but followers to come to Him. Not just admiring Him, but submitting to Him and giving Him our complete allegiance to bow to Him.

This is how Jesus concludes His sermon. He calls us to a choice. The narrow way or the wide way, the easy way or the harder way. The harder way is to deny yourself, to take up your cross daily and to follow Him. To follow Jesus to that place your house will stand in life eternal. The Lord will be with you always.

Are you building your house on the rock, your life on the rock of Jesus? Have you moved from just saying to submitting, from just hearing to heeding, from being amazed to giving Jesus your total allegiance? The key to assurance is both the confession of the mouth and the submission of the heart. Once again, as Paul wrote to the Romans, Romans 10:9 (ESV) “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That word, “confess,” again, is that Greek word that I taught you earlier, when you declare with your mouth in a profession, almost an act of the will kind of way; “homologeō.”

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” We can have this assurance. We can know that. We know that we know because He knows us and we know Him. Over the past 16 weeks, we've walked, verse by verse, through the Sermon on the Mount.

It's the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. He speaks of the upside down values of the kingdom, upside down to the world, but right side up to the Lord. He speaks of a radical inner transformation. He blesses the humble, the merciful and the pure in heart.

He redefines righteousness not as we do, but in the heart where anger is like murder and lust is like adultery and love even reaches to our enemies. He paints a picture of this wonderful place called the Kingdom of Heaven. We're seen as kingdom people who live, not for show, but from secret intimacy with the Father, through prayer, fasting and generosity. We've heard Jesus teach that we're to trust God fully, to pursue His kingdom first and to judge others not with hypocrisy, but with grace and discernment. He warns us that the path is narrow and that true faith bears fruit not just in words, but in obedience.

In chapter five, He teaches us the character of the kingdom citizens. In chapter six, He talks about the conduct that flows out of this new kingdom character. And then in chapter seven, He gives us a choice that we must make. Will we make Jesus King? He's the narrow gate, the firm foundation, the final judge and the authoritative king.

It ends with a warning and an invitation. It's not enough just to say, “Lord, Lord.’ It's important to engage the heart, which is the intellect, the emotion and the will. To say, “I do” to Jesus. It's a call to a relationship with King Jesus. Let's not just be hearers of the Word, but let's do what He says.

Amen, church. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this sermon. Thank you for, even, the powerful way that you close, Jesus, that You want to make sure that we recognize there's no more important decision than the one where we decide what to do with You.

We can either follow You or not. We can either submit our lives and build our lives upon You or not. So, I pray for that one that's in my hearing right now. We've all heard.

You're listening now and the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Have you ever given your life to Jesus? Have you ever called Him Lord and meant it from your heart, confessing Him as Lord and Master of your life? You can do it right now. You can pray with me right now.

Pray like this, “Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, but I believe You died on the cross for my sin, You paid for my sin, You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. I pray for You to become my Lord and my Savior right now, to change my life, to adopt me into Your family and to give me eternal life. I confess You as my Lord and as my King. I submit and surrender my life to You, fully holding nothing back.”

If you're praying that prayer, believing today, Jesus is willing and ready to save you. If you're here today and you're a believer, you're a follower of Jesus, as we're finishing up this series, I just pray for each of us right now. Lord, Holy Spirit, show us that place that You would have us look in the mirror. Is it a place where we hold a grudge against someone and we haven't forgiven them and you're saying to love them even though they've hurt you?

Lord, I don't want to turn away from the mirror right now. I want You to take that. I want You to take that spite, that feeling of revenge away from me so that I love that person and not just love them, I forgive them. Maybe there's another area.

Maybe there's an area where you're depending on something other than the Lord. You're not seeking first His kingdom. Lord, I just pray for every aspect of this sermon now that you would allow us to look in the mirror and that, Holy Spirit, You would apply to our hearts the conviction so that we might be transformed. Lord, we love You and we thank You. Most of all, we thank You for Jesus.

For it's in His name we pray. Amen.