The House Built on the Rock (Mt. 7:24-27)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” I welcome all the people who are worshiping in the church as well as online in South America and especially our precious remnants who are joining the Zoom from the Karen refugee camp, may we receive the great grace of God today. The title of today’s message is, “The House Built On the Rock.” As we live our lives, there are times when our life seems to crumble. Regardless of my intentions and regardless of my plans, irrelevant of me, there will be a time in my life when my entire life seems to crumble. If there are any of you who think you are not like that, I hope you will listen to today’s Word well.
1. God’s Word
1) Sermon on the Mount
In today’s scripture, Mt. 7:24, Jesus says, “If anyone hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice,” these words Jesus Christ refers to is the Sermon on the Mount from Mt. 5-7. For people who have not heard these words, they will fail because they have not heard these words. They will fail because of their ignorance. But for the people who have heard these words but still do not put them into practice, they will fail because of that. However, those who hear these words and put them into practice are like a man who built his house on the rock. The rock doesn’t shake no matter how many difficulties they face, but most people hold onto their own important things and use that as their rock. They will hold onto their specialized skill and say, “This is the reason I will never fail.”
There was a saying that the sun never sets on the British Empire, but the sun did set on that empire. It seemed like Europe was such a formidable force that would take over the world, but one day it did fail. Napoleon seemed like he was also on the verge of conquering the world, but he died on a lonely island because of a skin disease as an exile. Everybody has their own self-confidence which is their rock, but it turns out that that rock was shaky. We listen to these words today, but what do they mean?
(1) Blessing (Mt. 5:1-12)
These words are in Matthew 5 when Jesus says, “What is a blessing?” If you do not know what the true blessing of life is, and you’re holding onto an incorrect blessing, you’re building your life on a rock in the sand. When Jesus Christ talked about eight blessings, He was talking about the blessing of going to Jesus Christ. Worshiping in the name of Jesus Christ is the true blessing, but if you’re looking for another blessing, then you are building your life on sand.
(2) Light, salt of the world (Mt. 5:13-16)
Then Jesus Christ told us our identity, “You are the light and salt of the world.” We have been called as the salt and the one who will shine the light to the world. As Jesus Christ Who is the salt and light of the world is in us, He is saying He will fulfill this role through us.
(3) Law (Mt. 5:21-48)
Starting from Matthew 5:21, Jesus told us about the law. He says, “You have heard about the law this way in the Old Testament, but I’m telling you a law that is even stronger than that.” Some people wonder, “Do we really have to listen to these words?” God is moving your life forward even right now with the Word. God is moving the entire universe through the principle of His Word. We’ll explain more about the law later on.
2) Sermon on the Mount
(1) Prayer (Mt. 6:5-15)
In Mt. 6, Jesus Christ explains prayer: Do not pray for the things you want but pray the prayer that God desires. Pray for God’s will and God’s Kingdom to be established on this earth.
(2) Priority (Mt. 6:33-7:1-12)
And first, seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. Pray for that. People who have never heard these words will live their lives so diligently, but they will crumble one day without knowing why. If somebody is going to church but they’re still unable to hear these words, they are crumbling but they are not sure why.
(3) Narrow door, road (Mt. 7:13-23)
In Mt. 7, it says, “Do not criticize others or you will be criticized,” but you criticize other people holding onto the incorrect thoughts and the incorrect things, but those other people keep on criticizing and cursing me. Why is it that people who go to church criticize me? The Bible is telling you, “You did something worth criticism as well; you criticized somebody else first.” Jesus Christ told us about these priorities and last week, He gave us the Word about the narrow door and the narrow road which is the only way to bear fruits and life. When Jesus Christ, His Sermon on the Mount was the very important lesson He personally taught. After Jesus Christ resurrects, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus Christ says, “Go and teach them what I taught and to obey it,” this is what He is talking about.
I was speaking to an evangelist earlier this week who had studied theology for four years in Korea and four Years of America, and they asked one of their professors, “How can we put the Sermon on the Mount into practice?” and the professor said he did not know. This is not something you can understand just by reading it because we have to put the Word of God into practice. But even the professor who knew the Word of God so well was stuck in his conscience because he knew he could not keep it. That means if any of us who are listening to today’s message received influence from that professor, we would be the same way.
Do you know what the characteristic of all heresy is? They bind people with the legalism from actions. So even if they’re not making a loud noise about it, they rile people up to act according to the words of the law that God gave. Even though they talk about the same Old Testament, their end is different. That’s the characteristic of all heresies that move based on the Old Testament, because they will enforce the laws of the Old Testament.
3) One who listens to the Word and puts them into practice
“You have to live according to God’s Word, you have to act according to God’s Word, but you are not able to act according to God’s Word so you will go to hell,” and that’s how they bind people up. If you look at heresies, they have a very strong organizational structure. Even if they do not utilize the strategies of the world, they’re able to control people with the words of the Bible. Then, they force people to go out in groups of two to evangelize, otherwise they’re going to hell. That’s how they control people. So if you don’t know this Bible well, you will be swept up by the heresies.
(1) How do you read the law (Lk. 10:26)
Jesus Christ came to the Israelites and said in Lk. 10:26, “You guys are reading the law, but how do you read it? Yes, what is written in the law, but more importantly, how are you reading that content?” It means that the heresies are still reading the laws and the content, but they’re reading it in a direction that is not aligned with what God wants. Whether we have lived our walk of faith for a long or short time, our life will be successful or it will be destroyed depending on how you read God’s Word.
The Jewish people read the Bible differently, they read it as the law and had no choice but to deny Christ. Not believing in Christ is the sin, and that sin brought curses upon us all. So we have to believe by going to church for a long time, but how do you believe? That’s what’s important. It doesn’t matter how diligently you believe, but how do you know and believe in the Bible? If there are any people who fall into that category, may you receive healing through God’s Word.
Your diligence cannot cut it; you cannot be more diligent than the Jewish people. Your actions of following the law cannot even compete with the Jewish people. Someone like Gandhi from India said even he followed the Sermon on the Mount. Gandhi was a leader in India who was actually educated in the U.K., became a lawyer, and then stood at the forefront of the nonviolence movement. Gandhi read the Bible and said, “I like Jesus but I do not like the followers of Jesus,” so Gandhi said, “I will not go to church, I will just look at the Bible.” The content he said that about was Matthew 5, 6, and 7, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Gandhi was someone who tried to follow these words. Gandhi said, “The Bible says to love your neighbors and love others,” so Gandhi practiced the nonviolence movement, even against the UK. People who are non confrontational, but these people still believe in Jesus. They’re just people who follow the content of the Bible because they thought, “It would be a good idea to do so.” When they look at the people in the church, they’re not following the Word as they are, so they dislike the people of the church and they only like Jesus. But if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, you are a sinner, and because of that sin, curses and disasters are bound to follow you and the end result is hell.
(2) God, Man – Love (Lk. 10:27)
Then what is the core of that law? Lk. 10:27 says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and to love your neighbor as yourself. And in Mt. 7, Jesus is saying, ”If that is true, then practice that.”
(3) One who puts them into practice – A wise man (Mt. 7:24)
The one who puts them into practice is the wise one. According to those actions, that professor could not say anything. I’m sure there are people here who are stuck in their walk of faith at that level as well. It’s also possible to fall into tribulation and you think, “How could someone who has gone to church for such a long time act like this?”
2. One who puts them into practice
1) Those who rely on the works of the law (Gal. 3:10)
(1) Under a curse (Gal. 3:10)
But what does Gal. 3:10 say to those who rely on observing the law? “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse,” anyone who tries to fulfill the laws of Jesus through obeying the law are under a curse.
(2) Everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law (Gal. 3:10)
For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” There are hundreds of laws, and you don’t just follow them once a day, but always, continuously, and if you fall short once, you’re under a curse. What does it mean for you to practice the law, then? It means we have no hope. It doesn’t matter how many laws we follow, if we miss one, we go to hell. Because, even before the laws were given to us, human beings have original sin so we are, by nature, wrong.
(3) Cannot be justified by the law (Gal. 3:11)
That’s why we can never be regarded as righteous before God by following the law, then how will we be regarded by God as ones who keep the law? We call that grace. Even though we didn’t keep all the law, He just acts as if we have. Even though we continuously go outside of God’s Word, He covers that up, and that’s what happens in our life.
2) Faith – Righteousness
(1) Christ – Received our curse (Gal. 3:13)
(2) Curse of the law – Redemption (Gal. 3:13)
Because in Gal. 3:13, Jesus Christ receives the curse of our sin on our behalf. He has redeemed us by His death, meaning He has set us free from the curses of our sin. If you don’t understand what this means, then just like Gandhi, you’ll live a hellish life of suffering on earth and then go to eternal hell. “How could you speak so simply about these great, renowned individuals?” Because not believing in Jesus Christ is a sin, that is someone who did not believe in Jesus Christ, but tried to put His teachings into practice. We are moved and inspired by these people, but that is the inner nature of a sinner. Their actions were not that great either, their personalities are not that great, but if that person believes in Jesus Christ, God will cover everything for that person, why is that? Because Jesus Christ has received the curses of my sin on my behalf on the cross, and simply by believing in that Jesus Christ, God calls us righteous. It means it’s impossible for us to become righteous by our own actions. Only by believing in the One Who has fulfilled the law perfectly can we become righteous and escape from our sin.
(3) Faith – Promise of the Spirit (Gal. 3:14)
That’s why the Bible says we are saved and righteous by faith. Gal. 3:14 says, when we believe in that Jesus Christ, we will receive the Holy Spirit.
3) Holy Spirit
(1) Live according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4, Gal. 5:18)
As soon as you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into your heart. Jesus Christ only had one body, so He resurrected, so now He is with me with His Holy Spirit, and now from this point on, Rm. 8:4 says we are living, being led by the Holy Spirit. We do not live according to our sinful nature, meaning we are not trying to follow the law with our physical body, but instead, we are being led and guided by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Requirement of the law fully met (Rom. 8:4)
Because we do not have the ability to keep God’s law, the Holy Spirit which can obey God’s law, is within us and is guiding us with the power and the grace to fulfill God’s law within us. Even as we do that, if we fall over, we hold onto the blood of Christ again, and God will cover us again. That’s what we call “grace,” and when we worship, this is the place where God’s grace is upon you.
(3) Mind governed by the Spirit – Life and peace (Rom. 8:6)
Rom. 8:6 says, “The mind controlled by the Holy Spirit is life and peace,” meaning the life is completely filling and controlling us. However, the mind of the sinful man is death, “the sinful man” meaning, “trying to keep God’s Word with our own plans and actions.” That means we must only rely on and be led by the Holy Spirit. Just as in Gal. 5:18, where we are no longer under the law. If someone does not know God’s law, they try to live their life with morals and ethics, but even if they are so moral and ethical, they are still a sinner because if they don’t keep even one thing, they are a sinner. But when we look at someone who is so ethical and moral, we respect them and are jealous of them. But God says, “That is not true. Only the one who believes in Jesus Christ is righteous.”
3. House built on the rock
1) Christ – Rock (1 Cor. 10:4)
In today’s scripture, it says to build a house on the rock. What does it mean to build our house on the foundation of the rock? It means to build your house on Christ Who is the rock. 1 Cor. 10:4 says Christ is the rock. he struck the rock and there was the water of life that came from it. That rock is Christ. The One Who has finished all problems on the cross is with us and must be at the very center of our lives.
If you’re building everything on the foundation of this rock, you’re building everything while relying on the strength of that rock. Even your family must be built upon the stream of that rock. Any family that is not built on the rock will fall one day like a house built on the sand. Our business fields must also rely on the strength of Christ and we will rely on and be built on Christ. It’s the same thing for your professional field and your career. It must rely on and be built on Christ.
(1) House – Raise the church (Mt. 16:18)
Regarding this rock, in Mt. 16 where Simon Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus Christ responded, “On this rock I will build my church.” When you confess Jesus Christ, it is not just talking about your words, it is talking about believing in Jesus Christ in your heart, then the church will be raised. The Lord is the head and all the people who followed Jesus Christ will come to life. Paul went to the region of Philippi and gave the gospel of Christ to Lydia, and because of the gospel given to Lydia, the church in Philippi was raised up. In Acts 18, Paul met with Priscilla and Aquila who had the gospel, and because of the business people who had the gospel, there was a church that was raised upon the rock.
(2) Rain, streams, wind (Mt. 7:25), Gates of Hades – Will not overcome (Mt. 16:18)
According to today’s scripture, there will be rains that come down and streams that will rise and winds that blow and floods, but the house built on the rock will not shake, but the house built on the sand will crumble. That’s what Jesus Christ says in Mt. 16:18, that the gates of Hades may beat and shake and try to attack, but it cannot overcome the church built on the rock.
Satan begins to enter with the scars you’ve received while you were young. Two Saturdays ago in Colorado, there was a shooting in the LGBTQ community where 19 people were injured and 5 people were killed. Two weeks ago in Koreatown, a middle schooler was walking to school and then he disappeared. Many things like this happen, but why are these things happening all of a sudden? Perhaps that middle schooler was a boy with larger stature, and perhaps he would have been sold off at a profitable amount, but from his parents’ perspective, this is enough to go into shock. They have no idea where he is, he was on his way to the school bus and then he disappeared. This is not something we plan for. As we live our lives, there are things like shootings, things that are problems, and why do these happen to me? It might happen to you, yes, but it says in today’s scripture that the gates of Hades will not overcome you.
On Halloween, in a place called Itaewon in Korea, 109 people died, and they were all in their 20s. Your children might have been there. How could you be sure that your children were not there? In today’s scripture it says absolutely the rains will come down, the streams will rise, and the winds will blow. If you believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible never says He will prevent all bad things from happening to you. He is saying, “These things will happen to you but the gates of Hades will not overcome you.” It means that if Christ becomes the rock upon which your life is built, the power of the Holy Spirit is with you, he will guide you and work upon you showing you the answers and guide you through the problems so the gates of Hades will not overcome you.
The LORD said to Noah, “Build an ark for you and your family.” If you’re building your life or family on the rock of Christ, it’s for you and your family. There might be some people who look like they’re doing fine without worshiping, without God’s Word, but one day, the winds will blow. As evidence that their foundation is not on the rock but on sand, they will fall. So we are really all foolish because “Even though I’m not worshiping and I’m not receiving God’s Word, my work is going well,” then that person’s standard is their work going well, but what does the Bible tell us? It’s actually not going well because as time passes, it will fall.
2) World
(1) House built on sand (Mt. 7:26)
(2) Foolish man (Mt. 7:26)
(3) Rain, streams, wind – Falls (Mt. 7:27)
So, whatever is in my heart that is not on the rock, it is built on sand, it will fall in time. Noah was able to live only because he built the ark which is the Christ, but everybody else said they don’t need that. “Even without that rock, we can do well in life, we can succeed, we can live well,” and exactly according to God’s will, they faced the disaster of the flood. Only Noah and his family who held onto the ark, that is, the rock of Jesus Christ, lived. The Bible says such a person is wise. Whatever you’re bringing from school, that’s knowledge, but you can only use that knowledge well if you have wisdom. The Bible tells us the source of wisdom and knowledge is knowing the Lord.
(3) Keys of heaven – Prayer, evangelism (Mt. 16:19)
Mt. 16:19, Jesus says, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Christ is the one who opens up the doors to the kingdom of heaven. Theis ha two meanings, the first is that through Jesus Christ, we receive answers from heaven, “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and whatever you bind will be bound on heaven,” but there is another meaning, it is a meaning from evangelism. We have given you the keys to unlock the gates of heaven, and if you relay this to other people, God says, “l attach o you to others,” but if you have the keys to Jesus Christ but you lock it, then even the doors of the kingdom of heaven will be locked.
You should live your life on earth, ensuing the blessings of heaven, but you’ve been given an important key and you don’t see it, that’s the reason why God allowed the Israelites to be captives of war so that they’d use this key. If God hasn’t given this most important key to somebody, we should relay it to others, but the Israelites did not. That is why, through war, God let them be dragged off to far off lands to do missions there. That’s the history of Israel. God has given you the important piece. If you relay this to others, they will open their hearts and become a citizen of heaven. But if you stay still and you hold onto this key of yourself, God will make you a captive of war and drag you off to make a spectacle before others.
If God has given us something so important, it is because He wants us to relay this important meaning to other people. This whole world is built on sand, They built it on the sand, that is, centered on themselves, “I can do everything and I’m the center of everything.” The Jewish people said, I can obey God’s Word,” that is the sand. But then what happens? Their life will crumble. Why are the people of this world continually broken down? Right now, people are breaking down in their hearts and in their minds. It’s because they’re relying on themselves with the idol of “me.” Or, they’re relying on and holding onto the valuable things of the earth, then what happens? Satan doesn’t leave them alone. Only the Rock of Christ can defeat Satan.
Satan attacks everything other than that, even a priest can be attacked by Satan, even if you’re a long-time believer, you’re still attacked. Satan attacks unless you’re built on the rock of Christ, That’s Why America is the way it is today, they’ve built their foundation on democracy. They built their foundation as individualism, they built their foundation on freedom and individual rights. It seems like they’re doing very well, but the result is the nation continues to break down into drug addictions, mental illnesses, and shootings. Sometimes they build their foundations on churches.
3) Filling, working of the Holy Spirit
(1) Breath of life (Gen. 2:7)
(2) Authority, witness (Ac. 1:8)
(3) Save me, church, field
The Holy Spirit is living within us, and the Bible tells us that as soon as humans were created, God breathed into us the breath of life. In other words, the Holy Spirit completely controls my thought, mind, heart and spirit. If you become drunk on alcohol, you’re controlled by the alcohol. If you’re seized by money, you’re drunk, on money, and you’re seized by human rights. But we must do something only through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is already in you. But if the Holy Spirit is within you but you still move according to your thoughts and opinions, then your life is seized by something else.
That is why we must entrust our lives to the Lord so the Holy Spirit can take hold of it. Shamans and fortune tellers have entrusted their lives to demons. For the people who are not demon-possessed, they will reject demon-possession with their personality. The reason why we say Shamans or fortune-tellers are possessed is because they’ve entrusted their soul to the possession of this demon, then they receive the power of the demons.
Buddhist people try to empty themselves from the incorrect things inside. There are people who come to church , too, they try to get rid of their impure things. But you cannot. You cannot get rid of the scars you’ve received in your past. People try to forget about that, by drinking or doing drugs, but how can you avoid that? The devil knows us so well so he plays with us. People think that if they move to another location, it will go away, but it follows them even more. Whether you’re female or male, they feel like they have to drink alcohol and use alcohol every day.
We have to entrust in faith that the Holy Spirit will take care of our spirit and our mind, then you will receive power and become a witness to the ends of the earth. It is not our power, we are being swept up by the power of God. Just like a child will hold onto their parents’ hand and are dragged to go everywhere, and if the child cannot go with their own strength, when the Holy Spirit is with us and filling us, we are dragged by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what the Lord is saying. That is the practice He’s talking about. He never told us to practice God’s Word with our own strength. Then, you will come to life.
All the things of your past, whether good or bad, will come to life. Whatever’s happening to you right now, it doesn’t matter at all because the Holy Spirit is guiding you. That’s why even in the Old Testament, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” it doesn’t matter. In the past, even as you faced the disaster of Noah’s flood, it didn’t matter. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is with you. Joseph was dragged out as a slave, but it didn’t matter at all. Pharaoh himself confessed, “Whom can I find who is filled with the Holy Spirit like this man?” How can you and I put God’s Word into practice? All you have to do is believe in the work that God has fulfilled God’s Word. What does it mean to believe? All you have to do is completely rely on the Holy Spirit within you, but if you do not rely on the Holy Spirit, but you only rely on yourself, you will have no peace.
The devil knows this. The devil knows whether you’re relying on the Holy Spirit or not. Other people may not, you can deceive people. But the devil knows. The devil has the authority of the earth and is looking for those people, but that doesn’t matter at all to us. This is how we saved and raised the world, not with our abilities, we pray that the working of the Holy Spirit upon the church, that is the fastest way. If you use your own strength to work your business or academics or the people in your field, you will have no masterpiece. It doesn’t matter how diligently you use your brain, it cannot save people. But the Lord moves everything in the direction of loving God and loving people.
That is why you pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to work for the field where you are. You pray for this every day, right now, at this time, it’s simple, but you were never told to do anything, only believe. Pray, so the Lord will do it. God promised to work transcending time and space. Because you don’t understand, Jesus promised to be with you with all authority over heaven and earth. Your strength is unnecessary, if anything, if you rely on your strength, you will fall. I will be with you with the power to do world evangelization to the 237 nations and build a temple for that. Do you believe that? In order to believe, you must have God’s grace. So sitting here and worshiping is God’s grace. Because if you don’t have this, and things are working out, that’s not really any good. Because not a single letter or stroke of God’s Word will change.
Conclusion
Let us conclude God’s Word.
1. Christ – Faith
I hope you will believe Christ fulfilled everything on the cross and redeemed me from the curses of sin, and believe in the fact that He is with you with the Holy Spirit.
2. Guidance, working of the Holy Spirit
Believing in that is what it means to build your house on the rock, and the power of that Holy Spirit of Christ is with you everyday and you live every day relying on that. That is how you love God and love people, in other words, evangelism takes place naturally.
3. One who saves the world…
The Lord taught us this and has entrusted this to us, then what must we relay? What we have been taught. You yourselves must be taught and follow in faith. So I said this earlier, but there are many people who go to church and are oppressed by these words. “I’ve lived my walk of faith for so long, but it doesn’t work out.” It’s because you’ve found the wrong direction. Yes, loving that person may mean you give them bread, but the real reason you give them bread is so you can give them the word of Christ and make them live. May you have the light that is built upon these blessings and the rock of Christ. Let’s hold onto the Word God gave us and pray.
Message Prayer
Allow my life to rely on Christ and the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit act upon every single aspect in my life. May the filling of the Holy Spirit come upon me, let us pray together.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
God, we thank You. Allow us to raise our lives, according to the walk of faith in Christ though the Holy Spirit. We pray You will completely control us, being filled with the power of the Triune God every day, and allow us to be used for evangelism and missions that saves lives.
We have returned Your material blessings as offering. We pray that everywhere it is spent, that lives may be saved, and your blessings may be upon the heads of all those who have given this offering. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the people of God, the multiethnic people, and the remnants, and their businesses and studies, who desire to save the world by relying on and having the rock of Christ and the Holy Spirit be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.