Ultimate Choices

The reaction of our contemporary world is, how dare anyone be so exclusive in their claims? And this is the offense of the Christian gospel in our own time, the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior. The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most well-known and beloved sermon ever delivered. You'll even occasionally hear unbelievers quoting from it. But if we sit down and read the words of Jesus, we'll see that we're faced with an ultimate choice, and the consequences are eternal. Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and thank you for joining us for this Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind. As we come to the final message in Sinclair Ferguson's study in the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon from the lips of Jesus that is filled with so much practical help for the Christian life, our attention will be turned to eternity and the choice that is before each one of us.

Here's Dr. Ferguson. Now we've come to the last of our studies in the Sermon on the Mount and to the final section of Matthew chapter 7. And you'll remember that we've had three big words that we have used to summarize the teaching that Jesus is giving. In Matthew chapter 5, it's the word fulfillment.

In Matthew chapter 6, it is obviously the word father. And in chapter 7, it is the word judgment. And we notice that whereas to most people judgment means just one thing, in actual fact it's a very elastic term. And we need to avoid judgment as condemnation, says Jesus, but we do need to practice judgment as discernment. And he's been speaking, I think, by way of application to situations where the Bible doesn't specifically speak.

There's a technical term for that, isn't there? Those things are called the adiaphora, the so-called things that are indifferent. But the Christian never views the things that are indifferent where you can do one thing or another.

He or she never views the things indifferent indifferently. We always want to bring to bear upon every situation in life the great principles, what will be for the glory of God, and what is the wise thing to do. And it's within that context that Jesus gives the golden rule, which leads us, as the Apostle Paul teaches us, to learn how to please others.

And yet that very principle is easily misunderstood, isn't it? Because we understand that if someone says, as a Christian, you should be pleasing me by giving me what I want. We understand that if we please them in that way, it will lead to their destruction.

It will banish from their lives the possibility of the pleasures that God plans for them. And so, we're always thinking along these two tracks, what is to the glory of God and what is the wise thing to do? And now as Jesus draws the sermon to an end, He continues to speak about the principles of judgment that need to be exercised in our lives. And we're looking today at verse 13 right through to the end of the sermon. And here, first of all, He is thinking in verses 13 and 14 about the exercise of judgment in relationship to the choices we make, the ultimate choices we make.

And He has this picture that He draws. We are standing at the crossroads of life and decisions, and He says there are two gates in front of us. And we look over the gates. We see that one gate is narrow and the other gate is broad, and we see that beyond the narrow gate there seems to be a narrow road, and beyond the broad gate there's a broad road. And as we keep looking at that broad road, there are plenty of people on it. And instinctively we think that that must be the way to go because as we glance over to the narrow way, we discover that there are not so many people on the narrow way. And there are things about it that look hard. What's the reality? Our judgment is being tested.

How are we to think when our judgment is being tested about the choices that we make in life? Well, notice how Jesus puts it. He says, the gate that is wide and the way that is easy leads to destruction. The gate that is narrow and the way that is hard leads to life. Now, there is a simple and all-important principle here.

It's this. It's the question of the destination. It is looking to see where the road is going to lead. You know, I think it is actually true in pastoral ministry that when people mess up their lives and eventually come to you and tell the sorry tale and have been overcome by what they've done, the one thing they have never done has been to look forward to the destination. Because it's always going to be true in the Christian life that temptation in its very nature seeks to deceive us, seeks to make us focus on the short term rather than on the long term, seeks to make us focus on relationships with many people rather than relationships with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here Jesus is giving us a hugely important principle about how we are to exercise judgment in our lives. In the choices that we make, we must always ask the question, as far as I can see, to what destiny will this ultimately lead? And this is one of those places in the Sermon on the Mount where when people say to you, I love the Sermon on the Mount, and you say, well, let's sit down and read it together, they come to a passage like this and they swallow hard because it's clear that Jesus, whom they've thought so highly of, Jesus, whom they've spoken of as a great teacher, is saying there are only two ways. One way leads to heaven, the other way leads to hell, one way leads to the heavenly Father, the other way leads to spiritual disaster, and the reaction of our contemporary world is, how dare anyone be so exclusive in their claims?

And this is the offense of the Christian gospel in our own time, the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior. And yet, isn't it interesting that we don't mind exclusive claims in any other sphere? The great companies, they want to make exclusive claims.

The media in their reporting want to broadcast exclusive interviews and information. Think about it like this. There is the Ebola crisis in Africa and some fears in many other countries that it could spread. Imagine somebody appears at the end of this week and says, I have the cure, and the cure will work in every single instance, but it's the only cure. Do you think anyone would say, as long as He claims it's the only cure, as long as He claims it's the only cure, I'm not going to bother.

I am not going to look for any remedy for this dreadful situation in which I find myself until there are many different cures. Not everyone would rush towards the cure, even though it was exclusive, especially because it was exclusive. Why then is it different in the case of the Lord Jesus? It's different in the case of the Lord Jesus because people don't see how deeply, deeply sick they actually are.

They begin in the wrong place. Those of you who know one of the great books of medieval theology by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, Coeur d'Ouis-Hommel, why did God become man? What's the purpose of the ministry of Jesus Christ? He is in conversation with one of his monks, a man by the name of Bozo, who finds it kind of difficult to follow the Archbishop at times. At one point Archbishop Anselm says to Bozo, Bozo, your problem is this, you have not yet considered the greatness of the weight of sin.

You're at the wrong starting point, and so you'll never see things clearly. And so, as long as I think, I know I'm not perfect, but there are many cures for me, and I probably can heal myself given time, then you're in exactly that situation. You have not yet considered the greatness of the weight of your sin. This is a plague from which you are suffering, and it's a deadly plague. But there is an exclusive antidote to that plague found in what Jesus Christ has done for us.

He is the antidote. God promises us in His Word that He is able to save to the uttermost, no matter how spiritually sick, He is able to save to the utter most those who come to God by Him. Then wouldn't we say, then by God's grace, I will take that exclusive remedy for my sin?

And that's His point here. There are only two ways, and there is only one of them that leads to salvation. So, there's judgment in relationship to the choices we make. But then you notice in verses 15 to 23, there is judgment in relationship to the teachers and leaders we follow. In verse 15, beware of false prophets, he says, who come in sheep's clothing.

Now, that's right, isn't it? No one comes to us and opens the t-shirt and says, I am a false prophet, beware. They all come in sheep's clothing. And so, we need judgment in the sense of discernment and decision about what teaching are we going to listen to? Well, how do we know that?

How do we know that? Somebody appears on television. I've occasionally seen television programs in which the whole 23 minutes of the program has been taken up asking for money. And that would only happen if the person knew that there were unsuspecting people, perhaps very naïve Christians, sitting, listening to them and thinking, I have got to give money here.

How would I know not to give money there? Well, Jesus is here to give us some principles about that, isn't He? Judgment in relationship to the teachers that we follow. How can we see them in their true colors?

Or, for that matter, how can we see through them? And here are His tests. His test is, by their fruit you shall know them. You don't get good fruit from a bad tree. You don't get bad fruit from a good tree. Every tree that doesn't bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So, He says, verse 20, you will recognize them by their fruits.

Now, what does that mean? It means, first of all, does this person remind me of the character and speech of the Lord Jesus Christ? Does this person remind me of the character and speech of the Lord Jesus Christ? Spiritual fruit in Scripture, especially in the New Testament, is first and foremost likeness to the Lord Jesus in character and in speech. And, alas, so often that simple test would enable you to see through a spiritual charlatan. And then you need to ask the question, what is the fruit of this ministry in those who are influenced by it? What is the fruit of this teaching when you see the impact of it? You know, one of the things that I think I've begun to see as I've moved around churches over many decades now is that often in churches, congregations take on almost like the personality of the person who does the teaching. And of course, there's almost an inevitability about that because here is somebody teaching us the Word of God week in and week out, year in, year out, and that's molding our thinking and it's molding our character. And often because and often because we associate that person with God's Word, we kind of automatically almost instinctively begin to say, well, I should imitate their lifestyle as well. So, Jesus is saying, not only look at the person's teaching and his character, look at the impact that he makes on others. See if what he teaches sets them free from himself to live to the glory of God. See if it enables them to grow in the fruit of the Spirit and love and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness and meekness and patience. Because only these things are the fruit of the real ministry of the gospel. And he gives us another little litmus test, doesn't he? He goes on to say, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name? And he will say to them, Depart from me.

I never knew you. It's absolutely breathtaking. But do you see the point? Jesus is teaching us to distinguish, to judge, to discern between the possession of abilities that impress us and the presence of grace that draws us to Jesus Christ. So that this astonishing truth comes near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it's possible to be able to preach wonderfully eloquently, prophesy. It's possible to have extraordinary powers and yet apparently not really be a genuine Christian believer. Remember, many years ago a friend sent me, it was many years ago, he sent me one of these VHS tapes, you know, with a little note.

He said, make sure the children are in bed when you watch this. And so I watched this DVD. It was about a particular preacher who had all kinds of abilities. I mean, abilities that you thought that could come in useful.

People would come up on the stage. He was professing Christ and spiritual gifts, and he was making them behave like animals, and he was knocking them back. And he heard some of those powers could come in pretty useful in the church, I thought. And it was all such an evidence apparently of the power of God in him. And it so happened, I finished watching at 10.30 at night.

I was in Scotland, and we keep late beds in Scotland. And I turned over in my television set to see if I would catch the 10.30 news, and it had just finished. And another program was coming on. It was a half-hour program by an entertainment hypnotist.

And he was doing exactly the same things as I just watched on the VHS. And one of the reasons he was doing it, he kept saying to people, there is no magic. These are not spiritual powers. All I'm doing here is I have gifts that enable me to do this, and I have learned how to use these gifts purely natural. But you see, the hour and a half before it had been, do you see what amazing gifts God has given to me? But you see, the person who says, do you see what amazing gifts God has given to me is speaking gracelessly, not gracefully. And so, this is a hugely helpful principle that Jesus is giving to us.

Can this really be saw? There was at least one person listening to the salmon on the mount of whom it was saw. Jesus sent out Judas Iscariot with the others to heal the sick and to cast out demons. He came back with the others and said, the very demons of hell are subject to us. Do you remember what Jesus said? I wonder if he had Judas immediately in mind. He said, don't rejoice over these things. Rejoice only if your name is written in heaven as somebody who really belongs to me. So, Jesus really did know what He was speaking about here.

And how did that begin to emerge? Do you remember when the woman lavished her perfume, the ointment on Jesus? And we know Judas Iscariot said, oh, this could have been sold and given to the poor.

Do you know what Jesus said? She has done a beautiful thing for me. At the end of the day, the test is this. Does it draw my eyes to the Lord Jesus?

Or does it draw my eyes to Him, to her, the gifts they have, the impression they make? It's in this way that we make the decision, do we follow this teacher or otherwise? And then there is a final judgment that we need to make. There's a judgment that we make in relationship to the choices of the beginning of the Christian life. Which way will we go?

There's a judgment we make in relationship to the teachers that we are willing to learn from and to follow. And there is a judgment we need to make about the foundation on which we build our lives. And this marvelous little story Jesus tells that some of you have probably known since childhood in song, the wise man who built his house on the rock, the foolish man who built his house on the sand, the wise man who built his house on Christ, the foolish man who built his house on sinking sand. And when the thunder and the rain came, the house that had no foundations was washed away. And Jesus says, great was the fall of it. But the house that was built on the rock, that house built on Christ, stands forever.

Our daughter has friends, contemporaries, they had a little boy who used to help with the cleaning of the church. And as he cleaned in the church, he would go around with his little duster cleaning the church and singing the song, the wise man built his house upon the rock. The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rains came down and the floods came up, the house on the rock stood firm, and the house on the sand fell flat. He became grievously ill just as a little boy and died. And as they brought his casket into the church, the organist began to play, the wise man built his house upon the rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the house of the wise man stood firm. Interesting, isn't it?

You could be four years old and have that wisdom and fifty years old and absolutely lack it. And this is how Jesus ends. The wise man built his house upon the rock, and it stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand that seemed so convenient and so flat, but then the final judgment came and everything started to collapse. I imagine the congregation that day, the crowd went away quite quietly. When Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. But it holds something up before us that's very uncertain, isn't it, that the rest of the gospel will play out, one thing to be impressed by the authority, one thing to understand He really knows what He's talking about. It may be another thing entirely to bow to that authority and to ask Him to be Savior and Lord. And perhaps where the Christian life actually begins is where our discussion of the Sermon on the Mount needs to end.

Are you building on the sand, or are you building on Christ, the rock? That was Sinclair Ferguson wrapping up his series on the Sermon on the Mount. Hebrews 4 tells us that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, which is one why studying God's Word and meditating upon it is so important for us to grow as Christians.

And as we heard today from Dr. Ferguson, we even need to be mindful, who are those teachers that are in our lives? So as you continue to study the Bible, if you'd like to study the Sermon on the Mount even further, then I encourage you to respond today with your gift of any amount. And we'll send you the complete series by Dr. Ferguson, Sermon on the Mount. It is 12 messages on two DVDs. And when you give your gift at renewingyourmind.org, in addition to sending you this DVD package, you'll have digital access to all of the messages as well as the study guide. So give your gift today at renewingyourmind.org or by calling us at 800 435 4343. Tomorrow, we're going back into the archives to the late 1980s, a message from R.C. Sproul on the goal of the Christian life. Up until this point, this message was made available exclusively to Ligonier's ministry partners, but we're happy to share it with you, our Renewing Your Mind listeners. So join us tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind. Thank you.