Audio Transcript:

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Good morning. Welcome again to Mosaic. It's good to see you this morning. If you're new, welcome, my name is Shane. I am one of the pastors here at Mosaic, and so glad to have you with us. As we mentioned earlier, we would love to connect with you. The way we do that is through a little connection card. You should have gotten one of those with your worship guide on the way in. If you fill that out for us, you can just drop it in the little white box back there at the back of the room on your way out this morning, and we'd love to follow up with you this week and just send a small gift to you in the mail to thank you for being with us. You can also fill that out online or in our app as well.

Before we start, happy Palm Sunday to everyone. This is the first day, the beginning of a holy week. We have a couple of special service times coming up just to remind you of before we jump into the sermon. First of all, this Friday we're having a good Friday service at 6:00 PM here at the temple. Childcare will be provided for kids up through fifth grade, and so if you have kids that want to participate in that, just jump on our website and fill out the little registration form, that way we can know how many children to prepare for, but looking forward to that. We'd love to see you back here Friday night for that service.

Then Easter Sunday, this is really important. We're having three services, and as we've mentioned in the last couple of weeks, they're all going to be at different times than usual. Our first service is going to be at 8:30. We're going to have a full-blown mini-Mosaic program and Mosaic teens at this service, so families with kids, this will be a great option for you. Second service is going to be at 10:15. This service is also going to have childcare mini-Mosaic up through fifth grade. We're anticipating this is going to be our largest, most popular service.

If you're planning to come on this one, you might want to come early to make sure that you get a seat. Really, the reason we're expanding to three services, we just really want to make sure that with all the distancing requirements, that we don't run out of space next week. But our final service is going to be at 12 o'clock noon. Go get brunch, come and join us at 12 o'clock if you want to join us for that third service. Really, whatever service you're able to attend is great and just look forward to celebrating with you next Sunday morning. But with that being said, let's pray before we start the sermon this morning.

God, we thank you for this amazing section of scripture and the time that we've been able to spend in the sermon on the mount over the last several weeks, and Lord, we thank you that you have spoken to us through your son, the living word, and Jesus Christ, and you've also spoken to us through your scriptures, the written word. As we look into your word again today, Lord, we ask that you would humble us and give us ears to hear what you have to say, our minds and hearts that are open that are humble to you. God, your word is good, it is perfect, it is without air, and it is authoritative, but also beautiful and beneficial.

It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and so Holy Spirit, we ask that you would come and illuminate this path for us, so that we can stay on this narrow way that leads to life, following after Christ, following that path that he has blazed on before us. We pray all this in his name, amen. Today we're wrapping up our sermon series on the sermon on the mount. We're going to be looking at Jesus conclusion to the sermon on the mount. If you've ever studied homiletics, if you've ever studied public speaking, you know the importance of your introduction and your conclusion. These are the two most important parts of any address that you make.

They're kind of like the takeoff and the landing. In your introduction, really, you're earning the right to be heard by your audience. Right now, you're here. You're about to sit down and hear me talk for the next 40 minutes or so, but I understand that just because you can hear my voice doesn't mean you're actually listening to what I have to say. I got to earn that right to keep your attention. It helps a lot, if in your introduction, you can give people some kind of hook that's going to show them that what you're about to say is worthy of that time and attention.

Even before I start preparing for a sermon, I like to keep this phrase in mind, don't preach because you have to say something, preach because you have something to say. A good introduction, it lets people know that you're about to say something that's worth saying, something that is worth hearing. In Jesus' introduction, he gives us this little hook. It's like a bombshell of a statement. You remember what He said when He starts the sermon, He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

It's really unexpected, and yet, it's powerful, it's intriguing. It's maybe even a little bit perplexing, but all right, Jesus, you got my attention. I want to see like where you're going to go with this. Not only is it a really good hook, it's really relevant to everything else that he has to say. It's almost like this is the key that unlocks the rest of the sermon on the mount. Now, if you understand what Jesus is saying here, you're going to get the rest of the sermon, but if you don't, a lot of what Jesus is going to say that follows is going to be puzzling.

Jesus had a great take off. What about his conclusion? Well, how does Jesus land the plane? That's what we're looking at today. It lands like ... You've probably heard sermons that nose dive and crash and burn on the landing. Not here at mosaic, but at other churches perhaps. Jesus lands, it's like an atomic bomb, just boom explosion, fire everywhere. He walks down the mountain like an action hero. Doesn't even look back at all the minds that he just blew behind him. How does he do this? He does this by turning to his listeners, turning to us, and asking us, how are you going to land the plane?

How are you going to land, not the plane of the sermon, how are you going to land the plane of your life? Every single one of us, from the moment we're born, we are on our descent, and we're flying through the turbulence of life, and the runway of death is coming closer and closer with every moment. This is what we need to consider. This is what we need to ponder. When the rubber hits the road, are you going to make a smooth, peaceful landing, or are you about to crash and burn? How much time do you spend thinking about eternity?

What do we expect to find on the other side of death? Where do we go when we die? These might sound like cliche questions, but these are the most important questions that anyone could ask, and these are the questions that Jesus wants us to consider today in the conclusion to a sermon. If you have your Bibles, open up to Matthew 7, I'm going to be looking at verses 13 through 29, the end of Jesus' sermon. As we work through this text today, I want us to focus on these three points that Jesus drives home here in His conclusion. First of all, there are only two paths. There are only two directions.

Then thirdly, there are only two destinations. Read along with me. If you don't have a Bible, you can follow along and the words will be up here on the screen as well. This is Matthew 7 beginning in verse 13. Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. Healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear good fruit."

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. 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. 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?" And I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness." Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

"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, 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, 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." 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."

This is the reading of God's Holy word for us this morning. Point number one is that there are only two paths, and Jesus begins by telling us, you need to enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. There are two identical Proverbs in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 14:12, and 16:25, and they both say this, "That there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." What are these two paths that Jesus is talking about?

Well, let's start out by what is the path that leads to life? What is Jesus talking about there? If you were here last Sunday night at our prayer service, one of our members, Nathan Young, he brought a great message on this from John 14:6, where Jesus tells His disciples that, "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. Peter and John preached this in Acts 4. They said that, "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone," in verse 12, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved."

Jesus is the narrow gate. He is the only path to salvation. What that means is that the broad road to destruction, that is anything and everything else, and we hear that and we say, that's so exclusive, and it is. Jesus acknowledges that. Jesus says the gate is narrow. But before we can begin to object, we have to first ask, what are the alternatives? Romans 3:23 tells us that, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 6:23 says that, "The wages of the sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord, that Jesus being the only way, it sounds exclusive, it is exclusive, but the alternative is that there is no way. No way at all. That we are all sinners, we are all guilty and we are all incapable of saving ourselves.

We have all sinned again and infinitely just, and Holy God. The chasm that we need to cross is infinite. Think about this, only Jesus, in his complete perfection and full divinity was worthy and able to pay the penalty that our sin and rebellion deserved, and yet only Jesus, because of his full humanity could stand in humanity's place to be that atoning substitution. There could be no other way. It had to be Jesus. For Jesus to say, I am the way, I am the only way. I'm the truth. I am the life. I am the narrow gate. It excludes any other means of salvation, and yet, at the same time, it is more inclusive of any other alternative because the gate is narrow. But entering through this gate is open to all. It's free.

That the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, offered to all, to any who would repent and put their faith in Him and cry out to Christ for salvation. This is what scripture says. We know this, John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in scripture, "That God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Romans 10:11, the scripture say, "Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

You don't have to be born into a certain ethnicity. You don't have to have a spiritual, a pedigree. You don't have to go and achieve self-actualization or enlightenment. You don't have to climb to the peak of some holy mountain to offer sacrifice or maintain a life of perfection to be saved. You simply call on the name of Jesus and you will be saved. Believe, confess, cry out to Christ and say, no matter where you are, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, you will be saved. Look at verse 14 again. It says that, "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

This is important to understand. Jesus acknowledges the gate is narrow, and yes, it is free to enter by that gate, but the road that follows is not going to be easy. Jesus says, it's going to be hard, that the Christian life is hard. If it's not hard, then perhaps you're not actually on the path that you think that you're on. We've heard this phrase, that salvation costs us nothing, and yet discipleship costs us everything. This is Christianity 101, that we are justified freely by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and yet, the lifelong work of sanctification of putting our flesh to death, it's hard.

The lifelong work of engaging and carrying out the mission of God and living our lives as witnesses to the gospel and the kingdom of God, it costs us a lot. Following Jesus comes with trouble, tribulation, persecution. It takes perseverance. It takes patience. It is not a broad easy road. It's a road of self-denial. It's a road of self-discipline. It's a road of laying down your life and picking up your cross daily and following after Jesus. It is all of those things, but it's also worth it. It is the road that leads to life and there is no other way.

What this means is that, if we are walking this path as Christians, we should stand out and seem very distinct from the rest of the world around us, as if we are walking in a complete opposite direction against the flow of everything that surrounds us. We live in a world that follows this cultural mantra of like, you only live once, and so have a good time all the time, get the most out of life while you can. In scripture would put it like this, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. We say things, we hear things like, life is about the journey, not the destination. To go with pastor Jan, false. That's a false statement. Not true. If it is true, if life is really only about the journey, then yeah, go spend your life on yourself, get the most out of this life while you can, because this is all you'll ever get.

You can do this in a number of ways. You can do this through living a life of rebellion and sin of just seeking self-gratification and earthly pleasure. Or you can do this the way the Pharisees did this through practicing your righteousness before people. Not because you love God, but to be honored and respected by others, that they'll look and say, oh, look at that person. They're so virtuous. They're so right. Jesus would say, to either of these approaches like, great, but you've received your reward in full, that whatever satisfaction you got out of that is all you will ever get, and your best days will now forever be in the past.

Jesus calls us, as his followers, to a different kind of journey, a journey that doesn't begin with discovering ourselves, with finding ourselves, but with losing ourselves. It begins with humility. It begins with repentance and faith, and acknowledging that Jesus paid it all. So, all to him I owe. I am not my own, but I belong body and soul to God and to my savior, Jesus Christ, and therefore, my life, my time, my talents, my treasures, these are not mine to be spent on myself in this life. These are mine given as a steward from God to be invested for the sake of the next.

Knowing that in Christ, the best is always yet to come. Now, we heard this a few weeks ago. Jesus put it like this in Matthew 6:19. He says, "Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal." Now, if we live this way, apart from faith, this kind of investing in eternity, it doesn't make sense. It seems foolish. Right, you're denying yourself something right now and you're betting your life on something that you can't even see.

From the perspective of the world, it seems like folly. Jesus talks about it like this, that the kingdom of God, it is like a treasure, but it's like a treasure that's buried in a field, and not everybody can see it, but once you discover it, once you see what's there, you're willing to go and sell everything you have to acquire that field, because you know what's inside it, and everyone else might look at you and think you're crazy for the price that you're willing to pay, but you know the return on that investment.

Imagine like this. Imagine I had a time machine right here and I was willing to sell you a ticket, but it came with some strings attached. First of all, you could only use it to go backwards in time. Secondly, you could only stay there for five minutes. Third, it's only capable of bringing you maximum like 10 years into the past. Then finally, this ticket is going to cost you everything that you have, every penny to your name. You would probably think, well, that sounds very novel, but it's probably not a good investment. Not worth the cost of that. But let me remind you, 10 years ago, you could convince your former self to buy Bitcoin, which was like less than a dollar at the time.

If you could scrounge $10,000 $15,000 to go, you would be a billionaire today, and so yes, of course I would make that investment, but this is what I'm getting at, that the kingdom of God is a better investment than that. This is not financial advice. I'm not your financial advisor, but this is spiritual advice. I am a spiritual advisor of sorts. Jesus is talking about eternal stocks here. Don't miss this opportunity to invest in eternity, is a sure bet, and it's hard. It's going to be costly. It may cost everything you have, but you're investing in something that will never tarnish, that will never fail.

This is why 2 Corinthians 4:16 sells us that we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to think things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are seen are eternal. There are only two paths. Point number two, there are only two directions. Jesus continues in verse 15. He tells us, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit."

"A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. 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. On that day, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?" And I will declare to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness."

In this passage, we see that these two paths results in two very different destinations, and so therefore, Jesus, here in the middle, wants us to be careful that we not lose our sense of direction, that we make sure that we know where we're going, to not only know what the right path is, but to know how to know when we are on that right path. Some of you might be too young to remember this, but way back in the day, before smartphones, before Google Maps, before big tech was tracking our every move, if you were going on a road trip with your friends or something, like you had to have a physical map made out of paper in order to figure out where you were going.

What you would do is you'd go to the gas station or something, you would buy a map of whatever area you were trying to travel to, and you'd jump on the back of your Brontosaurus and you'd take off on your journey. It was great. The map could show you what was there, but the map could not show you where you were in relation to what was there. The map could not tell you what road you were on or what direction you were going. You had to figure that out for yourself. What that meant is you had to like look out at the road and look for the signs along the way that say, this is the road that you're on, and this is the direction that you're going, North, South, East or West.

What that meant is there would be these times, it's never happened to me, but maybe it happened to some of you, where you would be on the right road. You thought, I'm on I-80. I'm good to go. I set the cruise control. I can kick back and relax. Then like an hour later, you notice, hey, that sign says there's an I-80 with a little E on it. I was supposed to be on I-80 with a little W after it. I've just driven a sixth of the way across the country in the wrong direction. If it wasn't for the sign, I wouldn't have known that I'm actually lost.

How do you know when you're on the right path? That's what Jesus' wanting us to get at here. What are the signs to look for? We're going to talk about that in a minute, but first, Jesus warns us that, if that's not bad enough, there's false signs out there pointing in the wrong direction. He says, "Beware of false prophets." There are people trying to lead you astray, telling you that this is the way to go and actually pointing you in a way that is the opposite. This was a problem back then, this is a major problem today.

We live in a day and age where, because of things like social media, anybody and everybody can have a platform and gather a following. On the one hand, this means there's a lot of good, useful content out there, Christian teaching available online. It also means there's a lot of horrible, deceptive, false content out there, false prophets, people who are claiming to present the truth with authority, and yet they are leading people in the wrong direction. Some of these people, they can be religious. Some of these people are irreligious. Churches used to worry a lot about the false teachers that people would see on TV, the televangelist, the snake oil salesmen, the charlatans preaching their prosperity gospel.

That's something we need to be concerned of and discerning about and look out for as Christians. But today, we don't honestly see many people being deceived by the cookies, people that we see on Christian television. Instead, what we see is there's a lot of people are being led astray in other ways, the political causes, activists, personalities, celebrities, talk show hosts, influencers, even teachers and professors, and Jesus warns us that it's not always going to be obvious who these people are. Don't assume that you know what they're going to look like, because they're going to look like sheep on the outside. When you look up a little closer, you see that they're actually ferocious wolves.

He's warning us, you need to be cautious, you need to be careful who you follow. You need to be wise and discerning so that you can tell the difference. Now, you're going to need community around you to help you with this. You're going to need to know God's word and filter everything through that. We have a great example of this in Acts 17. Acts 17:10 tells us that, "The brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so." On the one hand, they're open, they're teachable, they're eager to learn, and that the other hand, they're discerning.

They're taking everything they hear from Paul and Silas, and they're filtering it through God's word to see if these things are so. We need to do that as Christians with everything that we hear. Galatians 1 gives us this warning in verse six, and Paul tells the church, "I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be cursed."

Colossians 2:8 says, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of this world and not according to Christ." Jesus says, watch out for false prophets, don't be fooled by false teachers. But secondly, He's also telling us, don't even be fooled by yourself. Don't be self-deceived. This is where things get kind of scary. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone who calls me Lord or even does ministry in my name is actually a Christian."

Some people are going to go through their life self-deceived thinking that they are serving Christ, and when they stand before him in the judgment, He's going to say, "I never knew you and depart from me." This is sobering. This should cause us to examine ourselves. Now, as Christians, this doesn't mean that we should live in doubt of our salvation, but the alternative is not to have this carefree, blind assumption that we are saved either. What are we to do? Scripture doesn't want us to assume our salvation, but what it wants us to do is to seek assurance of our salvation.

What does that mean? How can we have a surety that we are truly saved? That's what Jesus is getting at here. He says, you want to know the tree? You got to look at its fruit. If there's evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in your life, that's a pretty good sign that you've been truly born again, that God has saved you, that you are a new creation. Now, if you don't see that, if these signs aren't here, maybe you're saved, maybe you're not. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're not saved, but it doesn't mean that you lack assurance of your salvation.

How do we find this? What are we looking for here? A couple of passages of scriptures to help us out, 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 1:5-10, and Peter says this, "That for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ."

"For whoever lacks these qualities is so near-sighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fail." When you identify this trajectory of growth in your life, that's a good sign that you're heading in right direction, that you're confirming your calling and election.

Galatians 5:16-24, the apostle Paul talking of the fruit of the spirit. He says, "I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these, I warn you as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the Lord with its passions and desires." Are you growing in the fruit of the spirit? Notice, he doesn't say fruits of the spirit, plural, this is not like an a la carte, pick and choose which ones you want to grow, and this is an all or nothing. You don't have to be accrued in order to have a bit of self-control or to show a bit of kindness. One or two of these things does not give us assurance of our salvation in and of themselves.

Our assurance grows when we see that all of these things, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, they are growing in tandem, not because of our own willpower, or the work of the flesh, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The big idea here is that Jesus doesn't want us to be doubting, but he does want us to be discerning, because we can be deceived by others. We can even deceive ourselves, but God is not deceived. He knows the state of our heart. Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his on flesh will, from the flesh, reap corruption."

"But the one who sows to the spirit will, from the spirit, reap eternal life." 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, "To examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith." Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves? That Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test." If Christ is not in you, then that's where you need to start, right? You don't start by trying to tuck healthy looking fruit onto a dying tree. Instead, you start by calling out to Jesus and asking him to make you a new tree, to change you from the inside out to give you a new one heart and a new desire by the power of his Holy Spirit.

Now, if you examine yourself and you do see this, you see the Holy spirit at work in your heart, you take heart because of that, know that you are on the right path, and that, even if that path is very difficult at times, it doesn't mean that Christ is not there with you. He is with you and he's ensuring that you will arrive at your destination. We see this in Philippians 2:12. It tells us, "To work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." A chapter earlier, in chapter verse six, Paul wrote that, "I am sure of this, that he who began and a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

There are only two paths, there are only two directions, and point number three, there are only two destinations. Jesus concludes in verse 24 with this, says, "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 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 not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the wind blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

"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." Many of you know I was born and raised in Illinois, and in the Midwest, thunderstorms are like a very real thing. They're very long, they're very loud, they're very violent, and they always came with this looming threat of tornadoes. As a kid, I was simultaneously fascinated and completely utterly terrified of tornadoes the entire time growing up. You'd hear those sirens go off in your neighborhood, and everybody knew you had to stop what you're doing and you had to get to shelter.

You had to find someplace stable, someplace safe, and that usually meant you need to get down into the basement, into the foundation of your home for safety. Notice that Jesus doesn't say that, if you hear these words of mine and you do them, that you will therefore avoid all of the storms of life. No, he says the storms are coming, they're coming for everyone, and that they come in many forms. A family member gets sick, a job gets lost, the economy tanks, or relationship falls apart. Even if we dodge these smaller storms of life, there's always that one storm looming on the horizon.

Now, the biggest storm is the storm of death. It's one that none of us can escape. It's coming and it's getting closer with every breath. How are we going to weather that storm? Jesus says, it doesn't matter what you build. The only thing that matters is where you build, what you build on. He says, if you're building your life on me and on my teaching, you're like a wise person who's building on an unshakeable foundation. I hope you understand this. As Christians, we have this piece. It's like an anchor for our soul. It transcends the circumstances of life and death, because we know that, even if the very worst were to come true, our worst fears were to be actualized, if everything was lost and death was at our doorstep, even then, our hope is not in this life. Our hope is in the next.

Our soul is standing on a foundation that can't be shaken, that can't be moved, that will not give way. We know this because Jesus proved this through the cross. On the cross, Jesus faced our biggest, our darkest storm. Not a storm of life, not even a storm of physical death, but of total death. The fierce storm of God's wrath toward rebellion and sin was poured out and absorbed by Jesus on the cross. The scripture tells us, the sky grew dark, that the earth quaked on the day that our savior died, but it was through this, his death, that we were granted eternal life.

It was through this storm that he faced, that we are able to weather the storm ourselves, because through his death, Jesus defeated Satan, sin, and death. That God, the father, three days later, raised him up in victory and just vindicated him from the grave, glorified him at his right hand, and in doing so, he proved that he can and he will do the same for us, for all those who build on this foundation. Well, where does this lead us? Jesus is calling us to make a decision, decisive action. There are only two options. There are only two paths. There are only two destinations. This is what he's saying, you're either going to build on me, on this foundation, or you're going to continue trusting in the sandy shores of self-righteousness of worldly pleasures of living for yourself.

Sermon on the mount, in the very beginning, in Matthew 5:1, we're told that, "Jesus saw the crowds and he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them." Then here at the very end of this section, we're told that, "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." Perhaps you have been standing in the crowd, observing Jesus from a distance.

Right now you realize that it's time to leave the crowd and to draw near to Christ as one of his disciples. Jesus had a lot of fans in the crowd. He was never interested in fans. Fans come and go. We're reminded of this a bit today because today is Palm Sunday, and we can't prove this, but it's easy to imagine that the probability, that there were some in the crowd on Palm Sunday crying out Hosanna, who later that week were in the crowd on Good Friday crying out, crucify him. There's a fickleness to the fans that ... Jesus wasn't after that. He doesn't want people who are self-deceived.

He's looking, not for fans, he's looking for followers. He's looking for people who are ready to enter through that narrow gate, to take up their cross and to follow him down that hard path, but to follow him knowing that it is the path that leads to life. If you're here today and you're ready to become a follower of Jesus, the way you enter through that narrow gate is simply to repent, to put your faith in Jesus Christ. You can do that right now. If you do, we would love to talk to you, we'd love to pray with you after the service and talk more about what this decision means. If you are a follower of Jesus, understand, hopefully you understand this, that you can't walk this path alone.

You need people around you to help you, to encourage you along this way. If you're in a community group, be faithful to that community group, invest in those relationships. If you're not, we would love to help you get plugged into a community group today. It's one of the best ways where you can do this for one another and go on this journey of following Jesus together. If you're interested in that, just mark that on the back of your connection card. or stop by the welcome center, we'd love to help you find a community group today.

Then finally, one more thing before we close, next Sunday, Easter Sunday, and so who do you know that maybe needs to come and stand in the crowd with the hopes that they hear the teaching of Jesus, and they see that He is one who taught with authority and they themselves lead the crowd and become a disciple as well? We're going to be praying for those people this week. If you have opportunities to invite them and bring them along next Sunday, we'd love to see them here worshiping with us on Easter Sunday. With that being said, would you please join me in prayer? And then we'll continue and worship together.

Jesus, we thank you for giving us this sure foundation for being our solid rock. Lord, we thank you for this week, where we are reminded that you did conquer Satan, sin and death, that you took our sin upon yourself on that cross, and then you Rose in victory on Sunday morning. I thank you for this good news that we have because of you and what you've done for us. Father, I pray that you would make us wise, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that you'd give us the strength to faithfully continue down this hard narrow path of discipleship, to keep our eyes focused on Christ, the founder, the perfector, the trailblazer, the pioneer of our faith, and to fervently pursue him until that day where we stand before you in judgment.

Not to hear those words, depart from me, I never knew you, but to hear those words, well, done, my good and faithful servant. Come, enter into the joy of your master. We long for that day, and we pray, until we get there, that you would, by the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be faithful witnesses to you. We love you, we praise you, and we give you all glory, in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior, amen.