A Sermon on Matthew 7:24

By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr.

Faith is the Foundation Text: Matthew 7:24 (KJV, NASV) Introduction Brethren and friends, good morning! We are now living in the 21st century of a fast moving world. Different obligations, duties and responsibilities press heavily upon our shoulders. Every minute and hour, technology develops into a vast power that, if wickedly used, can destroy lives, and worst, a country. Indeed, technology dominates the world. On the brighter side, technology is helpful for a Christian. Our cellphones, laptops, iPads, and the likes can be used to preach the Gospel of Salvation to the people. Moreover, it can also be used to download eBibles. Hence, technology does have good effects to help a Christian grow in faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Despite these trending innovations and discoveries, brethren, let us pause for a while and reflect, thinking about how we can be of great service to our fellow men while here on earth and to be prepared for the eternal life in the world to come. It is very important for us to be prepared every minute, hour, and day. Certainly, no man did any great thing if he is unprepared. Definitely, no man goes to war without proper preparation. Surely, no man goes to heaven when he dies unless he has prepared himself while on earth. Discussion The Problem we are facing But as we continue to live our lives on earth, and as we prepare ourselves for the word to come, we are face a problem that, numerous conflicting doctrines, theories and religions are being preached by various groups of people of different religious sects. It is noteworthy to say that in any religious system nowadays, we can find good and honest people. Perhaps, even hypocrites can be found among them. Consider the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, and the likes. There are many good and honest people among their numbers. Even the priests are good-natured people, religious in all their actions, and devotees of their own god. However, I am reminded of Matthew 7:21. Jesus said, Not everyone who calls to me Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. To me, this statement of the Lord simply means that no man enter heaven unless he does the will of the Father who is in heaven.

A Sermon on Matthew 7:24

By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr.

It becomes our duty, therefore, to decide whether or not we will do the Fathers will. Every man must make this decision for himself. It is not enough to contend that someone else has made the decision for us. In simple terms, every man must give an account for his own soul; each is the captain of his own life. The Builders of Matthew 7:24 There must be a criterion by which every act of religion is to be judged. We must have a standard, a foundation upon which to build. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul taught us that the standard in all our activities as Christians must be the Scriptures. And, in Matthew 7:24, Jesus taught us that the foundation must be upon the Solid Rock. For this morning, I want us to examine Matthew 7:24 onwards. We are all familiar with this story. It tells us the story of the two builders: the wise man who built his house upon the foundation of the Solid Rock, and the foolish man who built his upon the foundation of sand. These two builders built their houses. When the calamities came, the house of the wise man fell not because it was founded upon the Rock. Meanwhile, the house of the foolish man fell and great was the fall thereof because it was founded upon the sand. What is the lesson of this story? The lesson of the story is: He who hears the words of Jesus and does them is safe against all the evil influences of the world forever. On the other hand, he who simply hears and does not do is doomed to fail of salvation, and be crushed in utter destruction. Hearing and not doing is worst. Thus, the more the hearer knows his duty, the guiltier is he if he obeys it not. This Parable of Jesus Christ presents to us the only true foundation the foundation of rock, the foundation of strong faith in the Bible as Gods immovable, unshakable, verbally inspired perfect word. For six thousand years Gods plan has been the same; that men must heard and do whatever He commands. Prophet Jeremiah said, It is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23). By this he simply means that one cannot work out his own religion and plan of salvation. Gods thoughts are not mans thoughts and Gods ways are not mans ways, but as the heavens are higher than the earth so are Gods ways higher than our ways and Gods thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). Therefore, we must ascertain Gods will, what God wants us to do because only those who do Gods will, can be saved. There are many foundations in religion. Few of them are: feeling, experience, human reason or opinion, and faith in Gods book, the Bible. Feelings are Deceptive

A Sermon on Matthew 7:24

By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr.

There are many good people who do things in religion because they feel like it is the proper thing to do. Their only question regarding any religious act is, Do you feel like it is right? While certainly any religion would be worthless unless a man honestly fell like it was right. But please bear in mind that the heathen in darkest Africa, the Hindu in India, and the Romans from Vatican with his idols all feel right about their religion. They are honest, but honestly mistaken; religious, bur religiously wrong. We must fell right about our religion. But feeling alone is the foundation of sand. We must dig deeper. Experience is Inadequate Next, there is the dignified foundation of experience. Many of us do things in religion because experience has taught us. All our lifetime weve seen others do things without stopping to ask why? Experience has taught you one thing, another something else and the heathen yet something more. Experience cannot be the test of true religion. The foundation must be something more. Human reason is Faulty Many good people use human reason as their guide in religious matters. They say that all matters may be subject to a dozen of differing opinions. Whatever looks reasonable to them, they do. Under this plan, each man becomes his own devil approving and condemning at will. One thing looks reasonable to one man, something else to another. But human reason is not the test in religion just as it is not the foundation of many other things. We cannot comprehend God but the proof of his existence is so abundant that only the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God, while those who are worse than fools have blabbed it right out loud. Faith meets every test Discarding the foundations of feeling, experience, and human reason, there remains only one other Faith. Faith is not a blind thing. Faith must be based upon proper evidence. An opinion may be without evidence but before one may believe anything he must have evidence to convince himself. Before one may believe anything in religion, he must have some evidence of its truth. Paul said in Romans 10:17, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God. Whatever we find in Gods word, we may have faith in it. Whatever we cannot find in the Bible, it has not connection with faith. All correct religious faith comes from hearing Gods word. W hatever is not in Gods word is religious opinion and not religious faith. Thus, Romans 14:23 clearly tells us that Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Take the case of Noah. Noah, in his old age, moved by faith and built the ark. He did not move by feeling or by experience, nor human reason. He moved by faith in God and he obeyed. Thus, when the flood
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A Sermon on Matthew 7:24

By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr.

came, he and his household were saved. The blind man in John 9 believed in Jesus Christ and obeyed His word. Thus, he was healed. He was blind and when he obeyed, he was able to see. So numbers and numbers of times today when we do things in religion, we are moving not upon the principle of feeling, experience or human reason but faith in the Almighty God. The only way we can know anything to be the truth in religion, the only way we can know anything to be well pleasing in the sight of God is to read it in Gods book. If it is in Gods book, it is the truth it is an act of faith. We may believe it, it is solid rock, we may depend upon it; we may put it into practice with the solemn and sacred assurance that God will give the reward that He has promised in His word. Conclusion Finally, the faith that saves is the faith that obeys. Man must exercise faith and faith must exercise the man. No man in the Bible was ever blessed on account of his own faith until after that faith is expressed in action. Thus, James said: faith without works is dead. God wants us to express our faith in action. It is part of obeying the commandments of the Lord. Brethren, make sure that in all the things that we do in religion, we must acknowledge them as commandments of the Lord and we are doing it because we believe in God. With this in mind, our religion will stand when the storms and fiery trials of the judgment beat hard thereupon. Thank you very much and God bless you all.