Feet on the Rock, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. What your life says about what you believe is way more reliable than what your mouth says and if what your life says is different than what your mouth says, God's gonna take the testimony of your life every single time. If I were to ask your best friends who hang out with you apart from church, can they give clear demonstration of the lordship of Jesus and spiritual fruit and they've seen you go through storms and they see where your foundation is?

Why would you call him Lord and then not do the things that he says? Welcome back to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian, J.D. Greer. I'm your host, Molly Bitovitch. Let me ask you a question. What one thing would make your life not worth living if you didn't have it?

Is it money, a spouse, a nice home or car? Well, the truth is, if your answer to that question is anything but Jesus, then you're found that your foundation will inevitably crumble. Pastor J.D. shows us how we can make sure that the foundation of our life is secure as we continue our brand new teaching series in the book of Luke called In Step. We started this message yesterday, so if you need to catch up, you can visit J.D.

Greer.com and listen in at any time. But for now, grab your Bible, open it up to Luke chapter six and let's join him now. Do the things that I've said. Think of it like this. These two words on this little card, these two words never go together. No, Lord.

They don't make any sense together. If you were going to say no, it means he's not really your Lord. So if there's any area of your life right now that you're saying no in, he's not actually your Lord. If he is Lord, then that means you've taken no off the table.

The way my dad used to say it when I was a kid is if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. In every heart, there's a throne and a cross. In your heart, there's a throne and a cross. If you are on the throne, well, you've got to put Jesus on the cross. But if Jesus is on the throne, well, that means that you've got to be on the cross. So right now, he's either Lord or he's not.

And if there's a no in your life, it means he's not really Lord. First characteristic, they don't bear spiritual fruit. Second characteristic, they don't do what Jesus says.

Third characteristic, verse 49, their faith falls apart in the storm. This is where the story really ties into the other two points and people miss it. Jesus's point, again, is that the two houses look alike. From a distance, you would assume they're exactly the same. It was what was below the surface that was different. One was built on the rock and the other was built on the sand and the storm revealed that. The point is that there are people whose lives look alike.

You understand that, right? They go to the same church. They're in the same small group.

They might be in the same family. They believe all the same things. They live by the same morals, but one's faith is real, one is not. And what reveals that, their little test Jesus gives you, is a storm. There are people whose walk with Jesus is fine until it gets hard. Until God doesn't answer some prayer the way they want it answered. Or until it gets really unpopular with their friends to do what Jesus wants. Or until obedience to Jesus means walking away from something that you really want.

You understand that we love to talk about Jesus, coming to Jesus as fulfillment and peace and healing and salvation and it's great for your marriage and it is all of those things. But you understand that at some point obedience to Jesus is going to take you 180 degrees opposite of the direction that you think you want to go. And in that moment, it will be revealed in that moment whether Jesus is actually your Lord or not. Not in here in this moment.

Here, but his house looks the same. Whether or not your hope is in him or whether it is in what you think he will do for you as long as he keeps up his end of the contract. For many people, religious people, I've learned that their hope is not really in God. Their hope is in what he will do for them. And the difference in those two gets revealed by the storm. When God doesn't do or it's not easy or it's difficult, you fall away from God because your hope was never in God. It was always in God's ability to keep you in sunny weather all the time. Again, the difference in these two lives is not what they believe.

The houses look the same. The difference in these two is how much their lives are actually built on what they believe. It is the one with the solid foundation who is the one, verse 47, the one with the solid foundation is the one who hears my words and acts on them. According to Jesus, your destiny is not determined by what you say you believe.

Your destiny is determined by what your life demonstrates that you believe. Friend, I hope you will pay attention to this because this is a major theme in Jesus's teaching. Not everybody who calls him Lord is going to go to heaven. The Gospel writer Matthew, in his parallel account of the same teaching, where he records Jesus telling the story of the wise man, the foolish man, and the two different kinds of trees. Jesus adds one other little story.

Let me read it for you. You stay there, Luke. I'll take you to Matthew real quick. Matthew 7 21. Not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. It's the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

On that day, the final day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, do many mighty works in your name? By the way, if you underline stuff in your Bible, underline the word says and does. What do they say? Lord, Lord.

You know what that means? They got the right theology. They know when to say amen. They know when to put their hands up in worship. They know when to make that spiritual grunt sound that Christians make when they're talking to each other and want them to say something spiritual. They even say, Lord, Lord, twice, which is a Hebrew way of saying, I really mean it. Lord, Lord, I mean it.

Watch this. Not only do they have zeal in their worship and orthodoxy in their theology, they've got zeal in ministry. They prophesied, which means preached in Jesus' name.

They cast out demons in Jesus' name and did miracles in Jesus' name. Translation, these are not sideline people. I mean, I don't know what kind of church you grew up in, but in my church, if you got picked to be on the demon exorcism squad, you were varsity.

You didn't choose the sideline people that showed up, you know, 10 minutes, you showed up 10 minutes late and left 10 minutes early, right? He's talking about pastors, elders, deacons, ministers, small group leaders, missionaries. That's who's in this, who he's talking about here.

People very involved in ministry. Verse 23, and I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. You know, this sends a tremor of terror down my spine. These people confess Jesus, but Jesus does not confess them.

Why? Literally from the Greek, they always work lawlessness. They never actually surrendered to Jesus. These weren't people who struggled with sin.

We all do that. These were people who never brought their lives to a point of surrender. And though they were around Jesus all the time, and though they built their houses to look like Jesus' houses, and though they decorated their houses with Christian art, and though they put their tree in Jesus' garden, they never fully yielded to Jesus. Jesus says, I never even knew you. You knew of me, but I never actually knew you. But I never actually knew you. The kind of knowledge that comes from just surrendering your life to me, and hoping in me as your Savior.

Friend, please pay attention to this. Not everybody who calls Jesus Lord actually belongs to him. The difference between the saved and the unsaved is not what their mouth says they believe. The difference in the saved and the unsaved is what your life demonstrates that you believe. You say, well, I thought we were saved by faith alone, by believing Christ as our Savior and trusting in his work to save us.

Yes, that is correct. But the kind of faith that saves is the faith that reorients your whole life. The kind of faith that puts the roots of your life into gospel soil, and the kind of faith that builds the foundation of your life on gospel truth. You see, there are two ways to tell what you actually believe. There's what your mouth says you believe, and then there's what your life demonstrates that you believe.

Which one do you think is more reliable? The way God sees it, what your life says about what you believe is way more reliable than what your mouth says. And if what your life says is different than what your mouth says, God's going to take the testimony of your life every single time. So I ask you again, does your life say that Jesus is Lord? And if I were to ask your best friends who hang out with you apart from church, can they give clear demonstration of the lordship of Jesus and spiritual fruit and they've seen you go through storms and they see where your foundation is? Why would you call him Lord and then not do the things that he says?

Why would you call him Lord and not do the things that he says? I remember a poem I heard when I was a kid and I've never really forgotten. You may have heard this. I don't even know who wrote it.

It's as old as the hills, I think. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things I say? You call me the way, but you walk me not.

You call me the life and you live me not. You call me the master, but you obey me not. You call me bread, but you eat me not. You call me truth, you believe me not. You call me Lord and serve me not. If I condemn you, blame me not. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.

I never knew you. Three characteristics of spiritual imposters. Three characteristics of people in the church who look like they're right with God. Active in the church, but aren't actually right with God. They don't bear spiritual fruit.

They don't do what Jesus says and their faith falls apart in the storm. Friend, are these true of you? If so, maybe like, I think maybe what do I do? We'll say that's the good news. You embrace Christ. You embrace Christ. You embrace that there's nothing that you can do to save yourself or change your own heart.

That might've been the problem the whole time is you keep trying to change yourself. You embrace that he's the only one who can save you. He paid your full sin debt on the cross. And he offers to give you the sacrifice, the payment for your sins, and then come into your life and make you a new creation right now, where you sit in your house, in one of our facilities.

Embrace that with your heart right now and yield complete control over your life to him. And if you do, he will come into your heart and he will save you. Listen, I got one other thing I want to do with this passage, but before I get to that, last little thing, I want us to stop right here for just a minute. If I could, I'm going to give you a chance to respond right here, right now to what I just said, if you never have.

So whether you're at home or one of our campuses, would you bow your heads right now with me? Again, I got one more thing to do right after this, but I just want to, I don't want to wait. I don't want to give you a chance to respond. If you're not sure if you've ever fully surrendered to Jesus and ever received him as savior, you can do it right here, right now.

It's very simple. Jesus, I can't save myself. I can't be good enough to earn your favor.

I can't be strong enough to live the Christian life. I receive, right now, your offer to save me. I receive your offer to save me. I believe there's a number of you at home or in front of me that just prayed that.

Maybe watching by yourself online. I want to pray for you. Father, I pray for those that just prayed that prayer, right now. God, I pray that you would open their heart. Give them courage to follow through. Give them courage to follow through with this, and then to do what I'm going to ask them to do next.

I pray to ask that God in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, before I close, I want to flip this around because there's a promise that is inherent in this passage, and that promise is that for those of us who build our lives on Jesus, the foundation will endure any storm.

Why? Because we got a foundation that will never crumble. Your foundation is whatever you build your life on. Your foundation is whatever has to be present in your life for your life to feel secure, for you to have joy. Whatever that is, that's what you serve. It's what you strive after. It's what you turn to in trouble. It's what you can't live without. The bad news is that every other foundation besides Jesus is going to crumble.

If you'll indulge me, I want to read a little small section of a new book I just had come out called, What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life? There's a young woman in our church who last year went in for a routine eye exam when she received devastating news. The doctor informed her that she had a degenerative and incurable condition that would take her sight in less than five years. Up until this moment with the doctor, she had no idea that anything was even wrong. At worst, she was going to need to get a pair of reading glasses. She was in her mid-30s. She had four children.

If things go as the doctors predict, she will never see a single one of them graduate. Just a couple weeks, she told me before the doctor visit, she had asked God to guide her to a theme verse for the year. Again, not knowing anything was going on, she said, God led me to 2 Corinthians 4 16. Even though the outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. This light and momentary affliction is producing for us an absolute, incomparable, eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen.

We focus on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal. She told me, she said, I wrote in my journal that day, God helped me to trust in things not seen. Helped me to fix my eyes, my thoughts, and affections, not on the temporary, but on the eternal. And she goes into that doctor's appointment.

Here's what she shared with me. As I listened to the news of my diagnosis, I heard in my heart, God speak over me the truth. We do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. This is not an affliction God has done to me. It is something he has entrusted to me. I was reminded of Jesus' words to his disciples when they came across a blind man. This has come to pass so that the work of God might be displayed. God has shown me more of himself in the midst of this suffering. Looking back on that prayer from January, I realize now that God was preparing me to hear this news. Already God has used this diagnosis to help me fix my eyes on him, to help me depend on him, to grow my spiritual sight. Jesus is far sweeter and more valuable in suffering than when I think I can do life on my own. As painful as it has been, I'm learning what it means that my spiritual sight is far more valuable than my physical sight. I don't bank my hope for any healing for my coming blindness as there is none. I bank my hope on the suffering Savior Jesus Christ who is far more precious to me than sight, more precious to me than my ability to drive, more precious than my ability to walk independently, or even to see my children's faces.

These things are inconsequential in light of eternity. Shortly after my diagnosis, I was praying when I saw a vision in my mind. Jesus was leading me blindfolded in the midst of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen. Once I got to an overlook, Jesus took my blindfold off. In that moment, I realized God was showing me that I can trust my good Father even with a blindfold in his hands. I can give up my sight for a short time here on earth because I trust my Father knows what's best for me, always working for him, always working for my good and for his glory. See what is seen as temporary and what is unseen is eternal.

Here's a question, could you be like that in a moment of similar tragedy? What's your foundation? Here's another way of asking that. What is there that if taken out of your life would make life not worth living for you? What has to be present for you to fulfilled and engaged?

Good marriage, close-knit family, kids that adore you, reliable job, solid bank account. Can you trust your heavenly Father even when he's got a blindfold in his hands? Whatever you give as an answer to those questions constitutes your foundation. And bad news, all of them are going to crumble. The good news is that when your foundation is in Jesus like hers is, in any storm you're going to be secure because he's got the power over the storm and he will preserve and provide for you in the storm. I saw this picture from a couple years ago of this house on one of the Gulf Coast, I can't remember which one it is, Hurricane Harvey, one of the worst hurricanes ever hit U.S. history.

Look closely at this picture if you will, you see it? One house. This guy's neighbors on either side got wiped clean. So this article interviewed the builder, listen to this, he said, yep, I built this house with this storm in mind.

This guy went way beyond code. He used 40-foot pilings which is just absurd. He made the house with breakaway walls so that when the winds tore them there wouldn't be any structural damage.

Think about that statement, would you? I built this house with that storm in mind. God provided your salvation. He gave you that foundation with all of life's storms in mind. So see, when you struggle and you fall, his death is sufficient to cover and forgive you. When you feel like you've got no strength, his resurrection is sufficient to empower you. When you feel lost, his indwelling spirit is sufficient to guide you. When you got nothing left and you're running on empty, the riches of his mercy is sufficient to satisfy you. God provided a foundation in Jesus with all of life's storms in mind. How firm a foundation you say to the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. My hope is built on nothing less than you and nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. So I return to the question I asked you the very beginning. Has God been shaking you? Is that what he's been up to? There have been areas of disobedience that have been revealed.

I'll tell you how it works for me. God consistently reveals to me I'm not surrendered to him. I'm making him fall apart. And when some area that's not surrendered to God falls apart with me, I go into despair. But when an area of my life that is surrendered to Jesus, when it goes through a storm, I'm like, nah, no matter.

Jesus, you got this. I'm doing what you want me to do. This area belongs to you and I'm gonna trust you to provide and protect. You got areas that you need to put under his control. What areas might those be for you? Why don't you bow your heads and get in homes and campuses where you buy yourself at your computer?

Could you just identify what those areas might be? Surrender them to him. Say, Jesus, I'm done with doing it my way. It's not sufficient for the storm.

I'm gonna do it your way. Oh, Christ on you, the solid rock I stand. Train my heart to obey, not just because it's the right thing to do, but God, because everything in my life will crumble. God, use these storms to awaken people. I pray in Jesus' name. There is no storm that a foundation built on Jesus can't withstand. I know it can start to sound cliche, but do you have Jesus as your foundation?

Life will have storms, some small, some that will feel like a hurricane, and we must be ready for that. You're listening to Pastor JD Greer, and this is Summit Life. If you missed any part of today's message or you'd like to hear more teaching from Pastor JD, visit our website to browse the online sermon archives.

You'll find this and more online free of charge at jdgreer.com. We're so grateful for everyone who stepped up and joined us so that we could close out 2021 in a solid position. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to give crucial support to a new ministry to Afghan people, we're able to expand so more people can listen and view this teaching, and we've been busy creating more and more content for you. So again, we just want to say thank you so much to everyone who supported us in the last year. We really could not do this without you, and we're so excited for everything that God's going to do through this ministry in the new year. We exist to bring the gospel to as many people as possible through the radio, TV, podcasting, and the web, and we'd love to have you partner with us as more people dive into the gospel through these channels. So when you give to Summit Life, that's the mission that you're supporting.

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Well, it takes some forward thinking. So to help you do that, we've put together a day planner, and you know, setting health goals, education goals, financial goals, that's all great. But the most important thing that we can do with our time is invest in spiritual things. So we've also included a Bible reading plan to help you maintain that most important spiritual discipline. We hope it'll be a daily reminder to stay in God's Word and to make Him the center of all your plans. There's nothing magical about the New Year, but it does present a natural opportunity for reflection. It's a great time to take stock of your life and to figure out ways that you want to grow in the coming months. Maybe you want to start reading your Bible every day, or maybe you want to get better at making time for ministry. Whatever that may be, we hope that this planner will be a great tool to help you meet those goals. We're so grateful for you and your partnership with us as we begin a new year of ministry together.

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I'm Molly Vidovitch, and I'm so glad that you've joined us today. Be sure to listen tomorrow when Pastor JD teaches about a sickness that most of us have, but few of us realize, the sickness of greed. Part of what makes greed so deadly is our inherent blindness to it.

Jesus simply assumes that greed is a problem for all of us, but He also offers us a radical, gospel-shaped antidote. Listen Wednesday to Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.