"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."
Luke 6: 46-49Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship today in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you all for joining us, we are truly blessed by your presence. I am exceedingly grateful to each and every one of you for your love, support and steadfast prayers for this ministry, my family, and myself. I have come to depend on every one of them, they are very important to me. It is my honor and privilege to pray with and for every one of you. I am so incredibly blessed to be to servant of God, and able to share the very Word of God with all of you, and it is my desire to be faithful to that end.I believe that you can always tell who the true believers are by the response to God's Word. True believers are always moved to loving, joyful obedience and worship by the Word of God. That’s how true Christians approach the Word of God, whereas false Christians will always challenge the Word, a trend we're seeing occur in many so-called churches today, as more and more egalitarian churches emerge to support feminism, which is part of the curse in Genesis 3, evidence that Satan has powerfully influenced the church and professing Christian people all across America and around the world. The Apostle Paul predicted this would happen, that there would come a time when men would want to have their ears tickled. I believe that time has come, as professing Christians grow colder toward the Truth of God.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, he wrote, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." That’s why the world, under the influence of Satan, hates Christian because they hate the One Who we represent, the One Who sends us to proclaim the Truth. I suppose the best way to summarize this is to say that Christians are the most loved of all people by God, and because they are the most loved by God, they are the most hated of all people by Satan.
The Apostle Peter understood this when he wrote in 1 Peter 4:11-13, "Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation." In the face of persecution and tribulation in this world, we need to be reminded of the hope we have in Christ, so we hold fast to the promises of God. That's how we endure.
In John 3:19, Jesus said "This is judgment; Light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, doesn’t come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." That's why it comes as no surprise that vice president Kamala Harris, who claims to be Baptist Christian, had police escort Christians out of their own church after they questioned her about statements claiming that Jesus Christ and Christians don’t belong at her rallies. The way you know whether or not someone is a Christian is not by their words, not by their profession of faith, but by their heart for the Truth of God, even if it convicts them.
Throughout church history, in every generation, the world has killed those who speak the Truth of God, they’re still doing it even now, today. True Christians have been killed and are going to be killed by those who profess to know God, who just want to make the world feel good about its sin, because we measure people’s behavior by the revelation of God, not by the world's standards. Why are Christians going to kill you? Because they don’t know God and they'll think they're doing service to God. Listen, it was those who claimed to know God that killed Christ. We have to proclaim the Truth as God Himself revealed it in the Holy Scriptures, even to those who profess to know God, that's our calling. Let's face it, that's not very popular today, to measure people against God's standards, especially those who claim to know God, who have strayed from the narrow path, yet we must persist, because it's the only way sinners will ever come to Christ, and He is the sole path for transgressors to find their way to heaven. I don't care how self-righteous you think you are, you can never be righteous enough on your own, and so Christ's perfect righteousness has to be granted to you. Coming to Christ is more than just showing up for church service, claiming to saved, it transforms us from someone who was once comfortable in their sin to someone who now has a heart for holiness, giving us the strength to walk away from sin and to pursue the life which God has called us to. A true Christian, having been born again, embraces what Scripture says about their sin and has an increasing desire to be delivered from the power and the presence of the remaining sin in their lives.
Let's pray together
Heavenly Father,
Father, we cannot thank You enough for Your precious Word, that You for reminding us that it is the application of the profound Truth that transforms lives. Lord, help us understand that being a Christian doesn’t mean being part of a religious organization or belonging to a religious institution, it means to love the Lord Your God with a love that leads obedience, and faithful service and worship, and heartfelt love for Jesus Christ. We who know the Truth and believe the Truth are aware of the weight of responsibility that comes with knowing this profound knowledge, to whom much is given much is required. Father, we pray for those have been deceived, conditioned to believe that You are going to accept their sin, acknowledge their immoral relationships, whose Christian life is going to end in disaster. Burden the hearts of those who claim to speak for You, to stop blurring the lines between Truth and lies, and grant them the gift of repentance. If they refuse, strike down their platforms to prevent them from misleading Your flock. We ask and pray this for Your glory, in Christ's precious Name.
Amen
Today's Message: Why do you call Me, Lord?
Since you cannot divorce the Lordship of Christ from the gospel message without undermining faith at its core, the claim that one can be truly Christian while actively rejecting His Lordship contradicts the very foundation of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Yet, that is exactly what is happening in the church today. Scripture supports that when the Lord produces saving faith, He graciously produces repentance, submission, and willingness to obey His commands. The Greek word "kýrios," from the word "kuros," meaning authority, denotes a person exercising sovereign ownership, unquestionable dominion over someone else, in New Testament times it was used to describe a master of a slave. Similarly, the "despotes," denotes absolute ownership. Wherever there was a lord, it axiomatically implies there is always a slave or "doulos," a term that is frequently used to describe a true Christian, as a person literally without rights because we are bought with a price, the blood of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul writes "For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men." Furthermore, I do not believe this term should be toned down or backed away from, simply because it is repugnant to the natural minds of our culture. It's extremely unfortunate, there has been a tendency among many English Bible translators to over simplify the term to make it more palatable, translating the word "doulos," or slave as servant, which emphasizes service, due to our society’s longstanding discomfort with the practice of slavery and it's associated abuses, removing the full impact of our relationship with Christ, overlooking the implications of our position before God, recognizing our required total submission to His Authority and obedience to His commands.
I believe it is important to mention, a servant provides a service to someone, however, a slave belongs to someone. Christ is not our employer to Whom we provide a service, He is our Lord and Master to Whom our complete obedience is required. Our behavior is a direct reflection of what our true beliefs are, the result of authentic salvation is a changed life, acknowledging that our lives are no longer our own, but rather instruments for His glory, dedicated to pleasing our Master. We do this not out of obligation but out of a heartfelt gratitude and desire to reflect the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who fully committed Himself to the will of His Father, even unto death on a cross. May we all find the strength to embrace the deeper calling of being a "doulos."
Open your Bibles with me, if you would and turn them to the Gospel of Luke chapter 6. Luke 6:46-49, the final verses of this chapter, and the conclusion of the sermon of our Lord, best known to us as the Sermon on the Mount, also found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. Matthew and Luke are very likely writing about the same sermon, however, it is also possible that it was a sermon like all sermons which bear the same Truth that was repeated on many separate occasions, because there is only one message of Truth, which Jesus told every time He preached. Either way, I am confident that Jesus would have preached for a long time, having much more to say than Matthew or Luke record. I trust that you will follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, while we open up our hearts and listen for what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us today.
"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."
Let's look at verse 46, "Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" This is one of the most profound statements Jesus ever made, it continue to echo throughout the world that we live in today, because everybody on this planet is either headed toward eternal death or headed toward eternal life, one that survives the ultimate divine judgment and the other does not. The question that must be answered by the end of the sermon, is whether you want to survive divine judgment or you do not. I believe that we all understand that Jesus died on the cross and rose again, and if you believe in Him, you will receive eternal life.
However, what Jesus taught on the subject is much deeper, more comprehensive than just believing, something catapulted me into understanding what true salvation really is, you have to make an all-encompassing commitment to surrender to your life to Jesus' Authority. A confession that Jesus is Lord is meaningless unless it is accompanied by obedience. The title "Lord" demands reverence, respect and obedience, I believe this is more than just a question, it's an opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves "Do my word measure up to my actions? It's a challenge to closely examine the authenticity of our faith and commitment to Christ. It's easy to say we "believe" in Christ, but the real test comes in our willingness to embrace His teachings and live them out in our daily lives. Jesus is inviting us to go beyond a verbal empty profession of faith and make the move toward genuine discipleship, a disconnect that many struggle to face in our world today.
In verse 47, Jesus goes a step further, "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them," let's stop there. These profound words encapsulate the genuineness of our faith, by emphasizing that true faith will manifest itself in our day-to-day choices and behaviors; as uncomfortable as it may be, Jesus is forcing us to question the authenticity of our faith, if our actions routinely fail to match our words, we must humbly reconsider the authenticity of our relationship with Him. The point He's making is clear, "When you come to Me, and you hear the Gospel, you obey everything that I command."
It's like James says in James 1:22-25, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." The critical message of this verse is that salvation is far more than coming to church, passively listening to the Gospel preached, that's not enough, we must commit ourselves to deliberately take action! Scripture commands everyone who hears the Gospel to "Repent of sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Him as the Lord of your life." That's what's required to get into heaven folks.
The Holy Spirit not only gives us the power to embrace His teachings, but also grants us the power to obey the commands of Jesus in our daily lives, by choosing to love our enemies, praying for those who persecute us, generously giving to those in need and forgiving those who least deserve it. Your house is your religious life, your religious activity, the storm is life's hardship, trials and tribulations and the
Divine Wrath. I cannot over emphasize this, God's Divine Judgment is going to come folks, it's inevitable, Scripture guarantees it, so make sure your faith will survive, superficial faith won't be enough to cut it when the storm comes.
That brings us to verse 49, "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." Throughout Scripture, Jesus repeatedly underscores the striking resemblance between genuine authentic followers and the superficial followers, just going through the motions. He gives us a number of clear examples in the parable of the soils, the tares and the wheat, and the Ten virgins. I believe the point here is very clear, for all intents and purposes, both Christians outwardly appear to be the same, they go to the same church, they hear the same Gospel, the difference is their true spiritual condition, a transformed heart, that results in a transformed life. You cannot live in rebellion and be a Christian, not matter what you proclaim.
So, He uses an illustration of two houses that appear to be built the same way, both architectural style and design, the materials used, constructed in the same identical manner, the difference is the foundation. Faithfully studying God's Word and diligently applying to our lives. Everyone of us chooses the foundation we build our faith upon. The question then becomes what are you building your relationship with Christ on, what's God's Word actually says or what the world tells you that it says. This is a resounding testament of the danger of coming to church, professing to be a follower of Christ, and failing to integrate His teachings into our daily lives. This is another stark warning about obedience. Seeking God's will for our lives over our own self-centered, selfish desires.
f you are part of a church, following a pastor that talks "about" Jesus and superficially identifies with Him, but isn't instructing you to follow His teaching, or isn't living it Himself, no matter what the spiritual house looks like, the foundation that solid faith is built upon isn’t there.
Grace isn't a license to sin, it's the freedom to obey God. Salvation is gift, what you do with is the most important choice you’ll ever make!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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