Matthew 7:24–29Scripture
Everybody open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7.
We're going to look at verse 24–29.
Says this, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat down on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does them does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house and it fell and great was the fall of it. And when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
Today I've titled this message heart check because real quickly we can see from this story that both of these two individuals that Jesus talks about, they hear him.
And crazily enough, although he says, "I want you to be able to hear, not just here, but here and do what I
Introduction
say to do, both of them are doing things." He actually likens them to a builder building a house. It isn't that one of them halfway builds or is halfway doing it. They are both constructing a building. They are both doing something. They are both fully constructing a house. It doesn't say that one of them gets halfway done and the other one gets fully done. It doesn't say that. Nor does it say that one works with more veracity than the other.
So here we have two individuals that are hearing and they are doing something.
So then what is God talking about here? If he's saying that if you're going to build your house on the rock, which represents Christ, that you can't just hear the words that are coming out of his mouth, but you have to do the words that are coming out of his mouth. And if both are hearing and both are doing, then what does that mean for us today?
How do we be like the wise builder? Because there is a hearing that's not hearing. How many of you ever How many of you have kids? You've have kids. You always have kids if you had them. How many of you have kids right now? Raise your hand. How many of you know there's a hearing and is not a hearing?
Just because sounds going into your ear canal does not mean that you are hearing somebody. I have been married for a long time and there are a lot of times Brooke saying something. I'm responding to her, but I have no clue what she is saying. You ever been there? I hear her. I hear her enough to know when pauses happen. I should respond something.
I'm digesting enough information to give her an appropriate answer to her to feel as if I'm engaged in the conversation. But the reality is there is a hearing.
That's not a hearing. So I think it's important for us to understand that today there is an obedience that's not a true obedience. Now you need to understand if you and you may be new here this morning. This may be your first Sunday here, but we have been traveling through Matthew for a year.
And we have been hearing story after story of scribes and Pharisees of their ability to not just hear but to do things. They prayed. They had a lot of religious activity. They did a lot of things that God told them to do, but they were foolish builders.
And then he begins to speak over and over again, you've heard it said from the scribes and Pharisees, do not murder. But I say, if you even talk bad about your brother, you've murdered them. What is he doing here? And he begins to talk over and over again, there is an activity, there is motion, there is a doing with the wrong heart.
You are, ladies and gentlemen, not saved by works. You are saved because your heart has been made new.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:21
And out of the overflow of a new heart, we begin to function differently. It is not it is not actions first with a rotten heart. That's not how you're saved. There is a doing that comes from a transformed heart. Did you know that there are people who are in the life of the church? We've re recently heard who will spend their whole life in the life of the church doing religious activity performing and doing religious activity and one day stand before the Lord and realize that activity didn't save and their heart is still as hard as it has always been.
And it should concern each of us in the house today because there are many people who've prophesied in his name and healed in his name and prayed in his name and led small groups in his name and preached in his name and did all these things in his name and they did not know him. And what's even more concerning about that is they did not know they did not know him. That's concerning today.
We're not talking about the casual attender here. We're talking about the religious elite. That's who we're talking about here. The people who are leading the church today in America and around the world. These are the people who proclaim him, who came to altars, who didn't just come to altars but lead altar calls and they were deceived themselves.
And here he is talking in and bit of a continuation from what Cameron presented for us last week. It is very difficult in the life of the church to know the difference between a true believer and a false believer.
That's the picture he paints.
The difference is not the activity. The difference is the heart.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 7:25
And today, Jesus helps us today get a heart check. What's going on in each of our lives? And I think it should be sobering. And I think we should take this seriously. And listen, I'm, you know, it should be encouraging to you.
If he pulls back the curtains on the reality of your life in your heart this morning and you see something that you don't like, that should encourage you because he's showing you something about you that will redeem you, that will help you. He's calling you away from what you thought was true into what is really true. This is the heart of your Lord and he loves you enough to tell you something you may not like.
Some collapses happen in a moment, an instant. But those collapses that happen in a moment and in an instant, they didn't they were forming for a while.
A bridge falls. That bridge didn't fall for no reason. Year after year it corroded. It rusted. The foundation began to crack and year after year it began to compromise the very nature the framework of the bridge until one day in a moment a brief wind comes by and blows the bridge down. But it wasn't the wind alone that did it. It was years of dilapidation that did it.
A marriage breaks. Doesn't just break because you have a disagreement over toothpaste. It takes time to break down. A business implod. A life unravels. And from the outside it feels sudden and shocking and unexpected. But
The truth is a visible collapse only reveals a hidden problem that caused that damage.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:38
I believe that's what Jesus is trying to do for your heart and for mine this morning.
Jesus ends the greatest sermon ever preached with a warning about ultimate collapse in the lives of people. He tells us of two men of two houses of one storm. For a season both houses looked secure. They were beautiful and ornate. They had great carpentry, wonderful paint, beautiful window panes, and both stood upright and looked magnificent. Both appeared successful.
Both likely drew admiration by the people who walked by it. But when the storm came, one stood and one fell. The difference was not the size.
It was not the magnificent structure. It was not the beauty. It was not the effort that was put in to the building nor was it the appearance. It was the foundation. It was that which no one could see. It was that which no one could see even after the storm because the foundation is underground and the storm only deals with what's above.
And a house either falls or stands based on what is unseen. See, we want to mark people's life based on what we see. How they pray, how they walk, how they talk, what they do, the where they go, what church they attend, the way they look, how they dress, what they post on Facebook. But he said, "A life is not marked by what men look at. A life is marked by what's underground." What is your life marked by?
Many people spend their lives managing appearances while neglecting foundations.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:06
They work on their image and their reputation and their success and their outward form while ignoring the deeper question. What will hold when life shakes and eternity tests? And let me tell you, life will test and eternity will test you.
Matthew 7 is not merely about houses. It's about hearts. It's about true faith and false confidence. This message is a heart check because it's about true faith and false confidence.
Let me ask you a question. What is your life built on?
Point 1A similarity that can deceive us
Number one, there is a similarity that can deceive us. Both heard and both built. Both at first it both seem identical.
Both heard the words of Christ as I mentioned earlier. But there is a hearing that is not true hearing.
One of the greatest roadblocks to hearing today I believe is selfishness. I oh man listen we are selfish.
Okay, that wasn't a notice how that wasn't a question like consider today if you're selfish. We are selfish. And you need to understand that frames everything that you do. It frames the way that you engage in a relationship. It is against your nature to prioritize another over self. Can I at least get an amen? Like whisper an amen to me on that one. Right. Like Right. It is against your nature.
Marriages implode when we begin to prioritize self over the one we were called to love.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 14:35
And let me tell you, it's work for B. I know. I know. I t I told a story a couple weeks ago that was it makes me feel like the king of my house when Brooke makes me coffee. I'll break this down for you real simply. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. She can nod. Yes or no. It is not the joy of her world to wake up early and make me an espresso every morning.
I know Brooke is pretty bubbly and when she gets up, let me them shades go open. As like it's crazy because as soon as my feet roll off the edge of the bed and hit the ground and I get into the bathroom, I see radiant light flying into the room because she's like and birds are helping her get dressed and mice are running around and getting her shoes on and she's singing lovely melodies and the lights are coming in and the shades are going up and then she hippity hoppity she's out and I hear her and I smell the aroma of coffee and I know that love is an act of her killing selfishness for the sake of her lover.
You track with me here? That's what makes it so much more special. Not that she just can't wait to make me coffee, but it's like I'm going to make him coffee because this means something to him. Are you with me today? See
The problem today is we think that love should be motivated by feelings. Amen. But it's an act of killing selfishness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:26
Now, that affects the way that you engage in a relationship and it affects the way that you communicate with one another. When was the last time you went on a date with a special somebody? We'll start with date. We'll move to family lunch. How much of the conversation was about you?
And how often in that conversation did you kill you so you can discover and ask questions about the person you went to dinner with? Okay, let's back off that. When was the last time that you broke bread with your family and how much when everybody gathered from out of town to with a family, how much of that conversation did you dominate because you're selfish and you only want to talk about you?
I'm just trying to make this personal for you. I know it's probably too personal, but listen, it shapes the way we communicate. It shapes the way we love. And I'm gonna move it to where I was trying to get it to the beginning. It shapes the way you read Scripture. It shapes the way you hear. Track with me here. Track with me here. This is important today. Track with me.
Because there is a hearing that's not hearing. There's a hearing that isn't hearing what he says. Die to self. Pick up your cross and die to self. Die to self. Die to self. And you read Scripture and go me. Me. Me.
This whole thing, it ain't about you. And in case you didn't know, I'll get emails for this. Jesus didn't die for you. Jesus died for God, the father. He did everything his father told him to do. And he did it because he told him to do it.
You are not the central character of all Scripture. He is.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:40
It's not about you. This storm ain't about you. This story ain't about you.
This parable ain't about you. That next healing we read about. It ain't about you. When lepers are healed, it's not about you. When Peter's mother-in-law is healed, it's not about you. It's not about you. It's about him and his greatness and his glory and his wonder and his magnificence.
Amen. It's not about you. Know why he heals people? Not so that you can realize that he wants to heal you. But you can realize there is no sickness, there is no illness, there is no ailment too big for our God. He has authority over it all. And we should worship him because of it. This is not about you. Stop being so selfish.
Well, what about me? Sean, stop it.
If you can't glory in him, your house will one day fall because you've built on the foundation of self.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:44
And you will never stand. Sean, why are you just trying to bust our chops today? Because I love you. Because the last thing I want to see is you to build your life on self. That is a foundation that will not stand.
Both hear the words of Christ. Selfishness is key. That's one of the greatest roadblocks to hearing. When a person is immersed in self-d desire, self-p protection, self-healing, self-promotion, self-ruule, it shapes how we hear everything. We can't even read Scripture without making it about something about our self shapes how we hear everything. Listen, they did not come asking what does God require, but rather how does this benefit me? Please don't be let that be how you read Scripture. They filter truth through personal experience, through comfort, through ambition, and through emotion. Selfishness dulls the ears of the soul.
It resists correction. It avoids surrender. It takes U-turns around painful conversations and twist truth into something more manageable.
Instead of letting the word confront us, conform us, and change us, we try to make the word serve us.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:21
The scribes and the Pharisees are perfect example of this, which he attacked over and over again in the preceding chapters. Don't be like them. I remember the conversation. What's wrong with these people? Yeah, you're a lot like them. We're a lot like them.
They constantly heard the law. They studied the law. They taught the law. They discussed the law. Yet, they missed the heart of the lawgiver. They knew the letter, but not the life. They listened externally while resisting internally. Both heard the word of Christ. Also, both built a house. Or as I would say in more simplistic terms, both did something.
Both did something. Every time I talk about just do something, I remember the story. I don't have time for this, but where my sister gave me a Inspector Gadget doll. It was in the you know that doll case. It was probably about this big. Has that glass window, plastic window. You could see into Inspector Gadget and he had all the helicopter that popped out and the skates that popped out and all the things and Inspector Gadget, you know that remember that? And I loved that. And they got me the Mr.
Inspector gadget doll. And I was just so enamored and I was looking at it and I was taken back by it and I just kept staring at it and it drove my sister crazy. She's like, "Get it out." Now, she's very southern. She still is very southern. Okay. My mom claims that it was because she raised me to speak less southern. I think it's because I've traveled a lot, so it's a combination probably of both. She so, you will hear when I get real excited, you'll hear a little bit of southern twain come out in there. But I've traveled quite extensively and I've lived in a lot of different places and I think that's kind of rubbed off on me. But my sister, here's what she sounded like. See, if you would just open it would do something. Like a southern bell, you know? Just open it.
It'll do something. Sean, just open it. If you open it'll do something. Sean, just open it. Why won't you open it? It'll do something if you open it. Just open it. On and on. We have video, so it's I have video evidence. She was so frustrated because this is not a spectator sport.
There's some of us who think that just because we look a certain way, that's enough. But God is saying there's a doing involved.
We care about how we look. He cares about what we do.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:24
He longs for us to do something. But with the right heart because ladies and gentlemen, there's a doing that's not a doing. See, the purity of doing is the real issue.
Jesus is showing us that the difference is not between the active and the inactive. Track with me. Nor between the informed and the uninformed.
The difference is between superficial religion and sincere obedience. The wise builder does not merely hear words or perform acts. He receives Christ's words with a heart that desires to obey for the glory of God.
That's the purity of doing. Obedience flowing from true love.
Righteousness flowing from authentic faith. Service flowing from a humble individual. Devotion flowing from a changed heart. Notice the second part of each of those are something God does. And the first part of each of those is what overflows from what God has done.
The foolish builder may hear much and do much, yet all of it's built around self.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:03
That's what we saw with the scribes and the Pharisees. Don't get it convoluted and don't detach it from what we have been learning. For we see the true parallel between true believers, true disciples, and those who do it for their benefit.
Some people out there away from us far away from us. God is just another thing they try on because nothing else worked. That's not what he's talking about.
We must ask more than do I hear? We must ask have I truly heard. We must ask more than do I do. We must ask why do I do what I do?
That's what he's getting at.
God is not impressed with religious motion. He examines the motives behind the motion.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:12
M&M's That's what he's after.
It is possible to look Christian and sound Christian and still be lost.
Point 2The foundation that determines destiny: surrender or self
Number two, the foundation that determines destiny, surrender or self.
Though both houses may have looked similar above ground, Jesus makes clear that everything depends on the foundation beneath them. The true difference was not appearance or effort or religious language. The true difference was surrender. One man heard Christ and submitted. Everybody say submitted. One man heard Christ and remain in charge. That is still the dividing line today.
There are people who grace our churches and fill our churches today who Jesus is something they add to their life, but they remain in charge.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:20
They go through the motion. They do religious activity. They see they teach the small groups. They do the stuff. They've been in church most of their life, but he's simply something they've added. But with the rest of their life, they're in charge. Let me ask you a question. If the rest of your life does not look like Christ, but only your activity in church does, where's the disconnect there?
I'm not talking about perfection. I'm talking about a heart that longs to surrender to him. Listen, this is more than agreement. It's more than intellectual belief. It is more than saying Jesus is Lord. It is the surrender of life to the authority of Christ.
Many claim belief but biblical faith always bows.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:26
The wise man says Christ is right even when I disagree with him. The wise man says, "Christ is Lord even when obedience cost me everything." The wise man does not prioritize feelings over God's word.
The wise man says, "Christ is worthy even when I must deny myself or Christ will rule, not my desires." That is a doing that is truly doing.
It is obedience born from trust, submission flowing from love, surrender produced by genuine faith. Listen, mere belief is not enough.
Track with me here. If there is a doing that is not a doing and there is a hearing that is not a true hearing, then there is a believing that is not a true believing. Let me say it this way. Well, Sean, I know you have your education in spiritual stuffs because I don't know specifically what it is. I don't know if it's apologetics. I don't know if it's theology. I don't know if it's how to preach. I don't know if it's, you know, Old Testament scholar, New Testament scholar. I don't know what you are. I just know you have a degree of some sort. But I know of a Scripture that says that if I believe, I will be saved.
It also says, if you do and you hear, you'll base your life on the rock. Yet there's an example of two people who hear and do and one is and one isn't. Track with me here today. Even the demon's belief. I'm pretty sure their belief is pretty serious.
There are people who believe and have a saving belief but still question God. The demons don't question him. They know that. They know, but it ain't saving. Are you with me today? Because there is a believing that attached to it is submission. There is a doing that attached to it is submission. Let me ask you a question.
Does he have your belief but not have your tongue? Right?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:23
Does he have your belief but not have your feet? Does he have a your belief but not have your hands? Does he have your belief but not have your eyes?
Be warned because there is a believing that's not a saving believing. Track with me here today. This is a heart check time, folks. I'm not making a Scripture heart check time. Jesus is. We should be considering where we stand. Every time Jesus confronts demons in the gospels, they bow before him. They cry out to him and they acknowledge exactly who he is. You are the son of God. You are the holy one. Have you come to torment us, man?
They had orthodox theology. They had accurate knowledge. They had fear. They had recognition. But they were not saved. They had no love. They had no surrender and they had no obedience. There is a world today right inside the walls of the church where people come and they lead devotions with great orthodox theology, accurate knowledge. They fear the Lord and they recognize him as the Lord of all creation. Yet they do not love him. They do not surrender him and they do not obey him in their life.
And God is sending a beacon off the bow of a storm that's coming for each of us. And he's saying, "Warning. If all of us have if all we have is mental agreement, we've not come far enough."
True saving faith does what demons never do. Loves Christ, trusts Christ, yields to Christ, follows Christ, and delights in Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:31
Listen to me. There is a worship that is not true worship and it happens every Sunday.
At the same time, there are people in here who are truly worshiping. There are people who are not truly worshiping but both look the same. One is built on a foundation of Christ and one hears and does and sings and celebrates and lifts their hands and claps but is not truly worshiping. And you can't tell the difference until the storm hits their life.
Because a worshshiper worships when it's clear outside and when the storm is raging. Because we are worshippers. That's what he makes us. This is not an action. This is who we are because he's made us true worshippers.
And notice every time Jesus shows up on the scene and somebody's possessed, where do the demons go? They worship more hard than y'all.
I mean, I just see scene after scene of somebody running and sliding in their socks down to their knees, prostrate on the ground. Lord God, savior, what do you have to do with us? That's a different kind of worship, man, than we saw this morning. Actually looks more authentic.
But there is a worship that is emotional and not spiritual. Track with me here.
There is a worship that's loud but not surrendered. There is a worship that's public but not pure.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:38
There is a worship that honors with lips while hearts remain far from him. See, true worship is not merely what happens in a service. It is what happens when the heart gladly bows to Christ, even when we don't understand what he's doing.
Our worship must be greater than Satan's than Satan's recognition and greater than the demon's fear. It must be worship from harsh transformed by grace. Listen, the foolish man built on the sand of self-ruule. A foolish man heard Christ but would not surrender. He may have admired the teaching, may have appreciated the message or looked religious, but at the center of his life was self.
Track with me. It is amazing to me how whenever someone wants to talk about something spiritual when they start with self and then they work out to the answer being Scripture.
I have a massive problem with that because this is not a biblical worldview.
If the answer is Christ, why do we start with our problems and work our way to Christ? Isn't Christ your everything? So
The problem you continue to feed becomes the Lord you worship at.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:37
Track with me here today.
I got to be very careful here, but just try to not mishar me today. There is a time to speak with a counselor. There is a time to do that. Trained biblical counselor. There is a time to do that. Some of us though would rather run to a counselor than the great than the great counselor.
Because that counselor is going to center everything on self. And there's something immensely satisfying in that journey. I'm not talking you out of going to your counselor. I would say if you haven't seek the great counselor from the greatest counselor, you shouldn't be running to that counselor.
It is not a substitution. Some of us don't want to have biblical instruction from our pastor because the pastor keeps saying the same stupid thing. Make God the center of your life. And you're interested in making you the center of your life. So you'll exchange biblical counsel for earthly counsel. Because it makes you feel better to talk about you. You know why? Because you've made a lifestyle out of worshiping at the throne of you.
And it feels weird to worship somebody else.
The real question is not do I believe something about Jesus. The real question is have I surrendered to him?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:49
Point 3The storm that reveals everything
The rock is not empty belief. The rock is Christ receiving through surrender faith. Number three, the storm that reveals everything. Tested now, exposed then. I'll just break this down for you real quick. I have so many pages. This is never going to happen in the history of mankind. God help me today.
There are things that are a problem. Now I want to be very careful here today. Ultimately and unanimously ultimately and unanimously unanimously commentators say that this storm is about judgment day and following the verse yesterday.
It fits right in with it being about judgment. It is the ultimate storm. Yet, many of us spent so much of our time talking about all of our little storms of life. You know why? Because we're selfish.
This is about him as the judge judging our lives. Now, that's first and foremost. I will say this, however, the storm reveals the storm that reveals everything. It begins revealing things today in our lives to help us have a heart check. It's ultimately about the ultimate judgment at the end of time because it's the same wind, same rain, same storm, same everything hits both houses.
It isn't that wind for that person. So, I have a problem, financial trouble, and that's a win for me, but it ain't maybe not a win for somebody else like Pastor Jr.
You don't have financial trouble. That's my storm. But notice this hits every house. The wise house and the foolish house. It hits every house it because it's making reference to judgment. I will say though that God, you may not like this, God will orchestrate a storm and send it on your life to help you begin in the middle of that shaking to begin to get a picture of what foundation you're on to help you move towards repentance.
Because some of you may not even know what foundation you're on until a storm hits. And sometimes he loves you enough to bless you with the storm to help you realize what you thought you were built on, you're not actually built on. And you can see it most clearly when all hell breaks loose in your life. See, that's not See,
Some storms ain't from the devil.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:44
Some storms are a gift from God. All right. Because if he can help you realize you're not on a firm foundation, he can get you to the firm foundation. That way, when the ultimate storm comes, you will be standing at the end of it because of the foundation he moved you to by gifting you a storm here on earth.
All right, that's that's a summary of one, two, three, four, five sub points. You're welcome. Six sub points, five pages. Okay. Now, last point. The response Jesus demands is more than amazement. It's real conversion. If you get to the end, they said, "we are amazed at the authority this man preaches under. It's amazing. I'm amazed.
It's amazing. He doesn't want your amazement. He wants your conversion.
When Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were astonished. They were amazed at his authority. They were struck by his wisdom. They were overwhelmed by his words. They had never heard anyone speak like this before. But astonishment is not salvation. They were moved but not necessarily changed. They were impressed. They were impressed but not necessarily converted. They admired the sermon but many did not submit to the savior of the sermon.
And that is one of the great dangers whenever the word of God is preached today.
It is possible to be amazed by Jesus and still miss Jesus.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 45:43
The crowd heard truth with clarity. They felt the weight of his authority. They recognized something unique in him. Yet many walked away unchanged. It is possible to respect Jesus intellectually while rejecting him personally.
It is possible to enjoy preaching while resisting repentance. It is possible to appreciate truth while refusing surrender. It is possible to sit under powerful sermons and feel conviction in the moment and then return and leave out and go into your Monday and leave the rest live the rest of your week unchanged living according to the same patterns you've always lived under.
Many people mistake emotional response for spiritual transformation. Listen, tears are not repentance by themselves. I've seen people cry during some pretty runchy movies. That is not a sign of conversion. I've seen people cry in the middle of a out and out all out brow brawl and fight in a marriage. That is not necessarily signs of conversion nor a changed mind. Oh, she's crying.
I broke her down. She sees my way now. No, she's about to kill you. Tears or her gas to come at you again for round two.
Agreement is not surrender by itself. Interest is not faith by itself. Admiration is not disciplehip by itself.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:36
And Jesus did not preach merely to produce amazement. He preached to call people into a different kingdom. Christ demands a personal response. This sermon closes with urgency because truth always demands a response. And can I say something today? Neutrality, it's a response. Delay, that's a response. Indifference, you've already chosen. To hear Christ and remain unchanged is to answer him already.
He calls people to turn from self and come under his rule. He calls people to stop building on sand and come to the rock. He calls people to leave false confidence and trust in him alone. Every sermon, every passage, every exposure to truth places the hearer at a crossroads and a choice has to be made. The right response is repentance, faith, and surrender.
I'm coming. The plane is circling the track. It ain't a track. Tarmac, it's coming in for a landing.
Christ does not want your applause. He wants your allegiance.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:14
And the proper response to his word is repentance. Repentance is more than regret. It is turning from sin. It's turning from self-ruule. And it's turning from false foundations.
And it's surrendering your life completely to him. That's what faith is.
We have the church is guilty of preaching thousands of people into heaven under the false illusion that they're going there only to one day stand before God and be turned away. And this is a problem. You don't earn your way to heaven. There is no amount of works that will get you there. But there is a difference between a heart that has been transformed and is submitted to him and a person who just does a bunch of religious activity.
There's a difference. Repeated exposure without response hardens the heart. So I want to say to you today, the greatest danger in the church today is coming to church week after week and being exposed to his word and rejecting his word. Being res exposed to truth and rejecting his truth with your heart because it hardens it harder and harder.
There is a danger in hearing truth while resisting it repeatedly. Every ignored conviction hardens the heart. Every delayed response doss the conscience.
Every resisted warning makes the next warning easier to dismiss.
Some people are experts at listening while remaining strangers to obedience.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 51:15
They know the language, they know the doctrine, they know the stories, they can sing the songs, but their heart remains unchanged.
The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. And that's what truth does for each of us today. That I didn't mean to rhyme that. Last thing, and I'm closing. Today is the time to respond, not tomorrow.
The crowd in Matthew 7 had the king before them, and we have the word before us now. Do not settle for being stirred emotionally while remaining unchanged spiritually. Do not settle for discussing truth while avoiding submission to it. Do not settle for admiration when Christ offers salvation. Ask yourself honestly these questions. Have I only been amazed by Jesus or have I surrendered my life to him?
Have I felt conviction but never acted on it? Have I admired truth while resisting change? Am I hearing Christ today in a way that leads to obedience on my Monday through my Saturday?
The greatest tragedy is not hearing the truth and rejecting it openly. The greatest tragedy is hearing the truth so often that you think hearing alone is enough.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 52:41
Christ is speaking still through his word. He's not asking for your applause. He's not asking for your analysis. He's not asking for admiration. He's calling for your heart. Your life this morning is built on one of two foundations. So ask yourself, do I merely hear the word or obey it? Do I profess Christ or possess Christ? Do I is my confidence in religion or is it in the Lord Jesus Christ?
The safest place in this world and the next is to stand on Christ the solid rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
36:16
34:03
40:58
43:06
38:28
36:29
53:31
46:21
50:56
50:14
50:59
50:16
50:33
1:01:14
55:11
58:45
48:40
53:36
50:01
48:24
46:58
53:46Now playing
48:09
47:47
48:22
48:05
49:51
44:16
43:00
36:15
31:13
52:55
50:14
58:33
49:41
46:19
44:54
43:02
38:08
30:23
45:14
45:45
44:48
38:14
45:30
43:08
26:04
47:18
37:25
30:49
43:11
47:01
40:41
44:50
33:29
53:32