Verse 21 in part says, “but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

“So what does “doing” the things that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount entail? Well, to be honest, it entails a lot more than you and I are capable of. What makes Matthew 5-7 so stunning is that Jesus doesn’t only endorse what God had already revealed in the Old Testament, he deepens it and makes it a matter of the heart. So it isn’t enough to just “not murder”, we must also make sure our hearts aren’t harboring bitter and angry thoughts. It isn’t enough to just “not commit adultery,” our thoughts have to be pure. We can’t just “claim our rights,” but we must be willing to suffer injustice at the hands of others. Religious duties like fasting, prayer and giving must be done with a right heart. This is only a partial list of some of the words that we have just heard from Jesus in the sermon on the mount. Jesus has shown us that a true keeping of the law is so much deeper than just external behavior, it is the description of a life that springs from a pure heart.

So, summarizing, how do you build your house on the Rock?

Admit to Jesus your helplessness to build anything that stands a chance of surviving his end-time judgment. Every day look to his death on the cross, and see there the death of all your attempts to make yourself acceptable to God. See at the cross as well the forgiveness for all your failed attempts to do what Jesus says. Receive by faith the resurrected Jesus into your life and ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. And then go out and in the power of his indwelling Spirit, listen to his words and do what he says.”

If you are wise then build your “life house” on the Rock and when the troubles and trials of this life come (along the way) it will stand and the final trial will be to the glory of the Lord.

But if you build on the sand, the things of this life - “the temporal and material” - the fools building material, then the test of trials will bring it down. And the end-time judgment will tell the truth of your building material as well as your foundation or lack of one.

The foundation of Jesus, the Rock, will endure for eternity. The foundation of sand and not Christ, it will fall and life will be judged and great will be the crash of that life. No Jesus, No Life!

If a believer seeks to build his life on the things that will perish here is what the Bible says to them.

How sad it will be on that day when God reveals to them that their Christian life was built on the wood, hay and straw. Can you imagine a whole life time wasted because of the lack of building one’s “house” upon something other than gold, silver and jewels and seeing all they had done burned up in the eternal fire, but because they had been saved by their faith, they would escape and be given heaven even as their clothing smelled of the burning fire of hell. If you even thought that might be your life today would you make the decision to build the life you have on the solid foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Think what a terrible loss that Day will be for you who have spent a lifetime building with materials such as wood, hay and straw. Imagine your disappointment at watching your good, Christian reputation, your monetary donations and all the volunteer work you did for people, literally go up in smoke. You can change that today!

But now, if your life is build on the sifting sand of the world and it has no foundation on Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, then today is the day to make that decision to begin building upon the Rock!

This ends the Sermon on the Mount. The people were amazed at the authority with which He taught. It surely wasn’t teaching like the Jewish leaders of their day. From the beginning Jesus wanted the people to know that He loved them and desired for them to seek more than the letter of the Law but really embrace the love of God that would go deep into one’s heart and mind that they would not hear of or read the Law the same again. He shared so much with the listeners that they would have to really ponder over all that He said.

Our prayer is that you ponder over and think hard about what Jesus has told us, here at NABC.

What is your life built on?

Is He your eternal foundation in which you will or have built your life?

Today will you make that great decision to believe on Him as your personal Savior and Lord by Faith?

Will you turn your life over completely to Jesus and let Him direct, guide and give you purpose for which to live? (Don’t build any longer on what you build but on what He will build in and through you.)