Righteous Foundation // Mathew 7: 24-27

[Music] hey pastor josh here thanks so much for watching our videos if you'd like more information about legacy city church you can go to legacy citychurch.com please don't forget to like subscribe and hit the bell below god bless you we have a special guest today speaking one of our own uh it's actually my mentor he personally mentored me as a baby and jesus i'm still a baby in jesus but um i don't think i would be standing here right now if it wasn't for him and still walking with the lord without his encouragement so everybody give a round of applause for mark larson and elder here at legacy city church good morning legacy family good morning legacy family [Applause] i have to remind myself that we're family you know the i'm not a public speaker i'm not one that likes to be center stage i'm not one that likes the attention and as i share my concerns with my friends with my family the advice they always give me is well just talk to them like you do at our group i do lead a small group you know talk to me like you talk to me when we go mountain bike riding uh talk to me like you're just mountain bike riding and you're with buddies i say okay and then i end up here and then i see you all looking at me and it makes me nervous so hello legacy family hey there we are there we are we are a family um you know we we we've we've gone through a lot together um one thing that i've uh been thinking about is that with the covid issues that have come up you know things changed for us right i mean there was a time where we we were split up we were split apart and we were isolated and it really became clear to me the importance of fellowship and community especially as believers in jesus because we live in a world with with troubles and issues and we need each other you know when when josh first started preaching online one of his first messages was on the passage that we're going to look at today the passage that we're going to look at today is found in matthew chapter 7 verse 24 through 27. i'd like to open up with prayer of father god we commit this time to you we ask for your holy spirit to be over all of us lord my words may they be from you our hearts may they be united with yours we ask that you would meet with us this morning and we ask for your blessing upon this time we pray that you would illuminate the words that are written in your word that we will be looking at and that we would hear from you and we come to celebrate you jesus for rescuing us and saving us making us righteous thank you for loving us may we love you and love each other with that same love through your holy spirit in jesus name amen please stand for the reading of god's word matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 27 therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on 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 slammed against that house and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on 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 slammed against that house and it fell and its collapse was great you may be seated this passage that we're looking at this morning comes at the end of what we've come to know as the sermon on the mount over the past 10 months or so josh has been taking us through the gospel of matthew we've been looking at the gospel of matthew one section at a time and we've come to this point now this is the point that we've come to after going through the first six chapters this is the end of the seventh chapter but just to remind us what we've covered already so that we can see the context of what we're reading who it is that's making this statement who it is that's saying these words matthew records for us the genealogy of jesus that he is the fulfillment of the promises given to abraham and to david in his humanity his human lineage comes through them chapter one we're also told that jesus was born of a virgin by the holy spirit and we need to keep that in mind we're not reading words of a man we're reading words of the god man and his name is jesus and he was named jesus because he has come to save his people from their sins and that's why we're here today through chapter one into chapter two we're introduced to jesus as the king who's worshipped by the wise men yet he was rejected by the king herod who was the earthly ruler at the time we see the earthly rulers seek to destroy him we see jesus still alive and the and herod's attempts fail in chapter 3 we're introduced to john the baptist as the forerunner of jesus proclaiming in the wilderness repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent for the king is coming and also in chapter 3 we see jesus comes on the scene and john the baptist acknowledging him as the king and at his baptism we see the holy spirit descend upon jesus anointing him and we hear the voice of the father saying this is my son in whom i am well pleased this is jesus this is whose words were reading this morning john also tells us that this jesus this king who is coming he will baptize us with the holy spirit and with fire the holy spirit for those who receive him and fire representative judgment to those who reject him jesus is both the giver of life and the bringer of judgment for he is king in chapter 4 we see jesus go into the wilderness for 40 days and be tempted by the devil and resist the devil's temptations where israel failed in the wilderness for forty years jesus succeeded in forty days he resisted the temptation in chapter 4 we also see jesus begin his ministry he too starts proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven is at hand the kingdom of heaven is here and he calls it good news the good news of the kingdom of heaven as jesus is preaching this crowds are following him and he's healing he's he's curing diseases he's casting out demons and people are following him and he goes and he's goes up on top of a mountain and sits down and he begins to teach and say to his disciples what we know as the sermon on the mount so this morning we have read the closing of the sermon on the mount therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock everyone who hears what words what words it's whatever's gone before in the sermon on the mount everyone who hears these words of whose of jesus's this king the only king and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock for the past eight months we've gone through the sermon on the mount section by section by section do you remember what it says i remember some of it but what does jesus tell us here that if you're a wise man your life will be founded upon these words when we get to the end of the sermon on the mount he points us back to the beginning to take note of what's gone before so this morning i'd like to look at what we've covered because this what we've covered should be foundational for our lives if it's not we're told that we're a foolish man and that our house is built on sand and if our house is built on sand there's a great destruction so i'd like to turn back to the opening statement in chapter 5 of matthew where jesus lays out what we've come to know as the beatitudes so if you'd like to turn with your bibles with me to matthew chapter 5 and we will revisit this together when jesus saw the crowds he went up on the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him he opened his mouth and began to teach them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek or the gentle the lowly for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of god blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven first i'd like to for you to notice that jesus sitting on sitting on top of the mountain beginning to teach opens up with blessings and not just blessings but blessing upon blessing upon blessing upon blessing because this is the news that jesus has come to proclaim to us that he is the king and with him is the victory we sang about that this morning he is the king and with him is the victory and his kingdom is one of righteousness look with me at the blessings that we have here in verse 3 we're told that theirs is the kingdom of heaven this is a good blessing right the kingdom of heaven sounds amazing right but what does it mean it's the eternal kingdom it is the kingdom where god rules and god reigns in his holiness in his righteousness where all things are right where there is no sin where there is no tears where there is no death only goodness this is the kingdom of heaven what's the next blessing that we see we see that within these blessings there's comfort blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth the third blessing is the inheritance of the earth think about that most of us when we we say when we die we hope we go to heaven right we've got news for you our inheritance is the earth heaven and earth will become one we will be here jesus will make all things right the inheritance is the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven notice that the beginning and the ending it has the same blessing the kingdom of heaven verse 3 and verse 10 both state that the blessing is the kingdom of heaven this is a literary device known as an inclusio it's a fancy way of saying it's bookends it's brackets and within those brackets is the substance so within these brackets is what is the kingdom of heaven notice that in the beginning who are the recipients of this blessing it's the porn spirit it's those who mourn it's the meek and it's also those who hunger followed by the merciful the purin heart the peacemakers and the persecuted you know in in going through the sermon on the mount it wasn't until i was spending time meditating upon this spending time alone with the lord that i began to see something i hadn't seen before and that's what i'd like to share with you this morning if you look at the entrance the beginning we have only need we have the poor in spirit we have those who mourn we have the meek the weak and we have those who hunger these are the recipients of the kingdom of heaven this is who jesus has brought the kingdom of heaven and the blessings to verse 6 tells us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied so if you hunger and thirst for righteousness what does that mean it means you don't have it it means you desire it means that you want it these aren't different people with different blessings what i want you to see this morning is that this is a progression this is the entrance into and the residing within the kingdom of heaven each one of us comes to jesus in this way and receives these blessings when we come to jesus in a right way and how do we come to jesus well we come to jesus being poor in spirit acknowledging our need and having no way to fulfill that need within ourselves we acknowledge that he is rich in spirit but we are poor we come to jesus and we mourn we mourn over our sin we mourn over our own state we mourn over the state of this world and we long to be comforted and jesus brings comfort we come to jesus meek and gentle and lowly we're all broken we all need him and we come to him as we are in need and what does he give us he gives us gives us all things that are his he is the one who's coming to rule this earth he is the one that we're waiting for his return right now he's the one that that we're here for this morning to celebrate him we come to jesus with our hunger our longing to be fed our longing to be filled with what with his righteousness righteousness which is rightness with god we want things to be right we long to be right with god we long to be right with people we can't do it though we try but jesus says pronounces blessing to those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied satisfied with righteousness satisfied with the rightness of christ what is the result of that righteousness that jesus gives to us the poor the mournful the humble the hungry verse 7 tells us blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy this verse always threw me off i didn't understand blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy well it sounds to me like i need to be merciful to get mercy but that's not what it's saying what it's saying is those that hunger and thirst for righteousness you will be satisfied because god will show you mercy and the result of that mercy given to you will result in mercy coming out of you because you have received his righteousness his righteousness is in you and you the result of that is you becoming merciful as he is merciful blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god as we abide in christ as we receive his righteousness as we choose to follow him we will walk in mercy because mercy is what christ has shown us as we walk in mercy we will be pure in heart for we will have received mercy will we will have received righteousness we will walk in mercy we will walk in righteousness we will see god for who he is he makes us pure in heart blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of god peacemakers becoming a peacemaker is another result of the imputed righteousness of christ to ourselves he's given us forgiveness he's given us mercy we walk in mercy we become peacemakers here and now jesus has made peace between us and god by his forgiveness of our sins as christ was in this world so are we to walk we are to walk in mercy we are to walk in forgiveness and in so doing we will become peacemakers we will be forgiving we will not hold offense we will not demand our own way we will have the love of christ within us and show it to others and in so doing we will be peacemakers in this world with those that are at odds with god and with ourselves blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven this is so awesome blessed are those who have been persecuted the blessing isn't in the persecution the blessing is in the cause of the persecution for what does the text say blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness we enter into this kingdom poor needy mournful weak and hungry we're given righteousness which results in mercy which results in purity of heart which results in us becoming peacemakers which results in us becoming persecuted for what we now possess which is righteousness which we were given for theirs is the kingdom of heaven this is the kingdom of god this is the news that jesus came to proclaim the rest of the sermon on the mount is more of a commentary on the beatitudes everything that's within the beatitudes is addressed within the rest of the sermon on the mount we're told what this righteousness looks like in real time we're told how it shows itself to be true within the context of relationships with others we're told that it is needed to enter into the kingdom of heaven jesus says that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven the scribes and the pharisees who did everything they could to meet the requirements of god some of us are like that we try everything we can to meet the requirements of god and we fail over and over again but the good news of the kingdom of god is that christ has come to give you that righteousness and with that righteousness comes entrance into the kingdom of heaven the eternal kingdom jesus contrasts the righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees with the righteousness that he brings some of the examples are he says you've heard that it was said you shall not commit murder and anyone who commits murder you're guilty before the court but i say to you if you're angry with your brother you're guilty wow angry with your brother how many of us are guilty of that the best we can do is not kill each other but jesus comes and gives a righteousness that dwells within our hearts he changes our hearts the righteousness that christ requires that is given to us far exceeds all other forms of counterfeit righteousness because we're told that those that possess the other kind of righteousness are hypocrites actors faking it and trying to get others to fake it but jesus changes the heart jesus also compares it with loving your enemies because the best we can do is love our neighbors but we hate our enemies but jesus says love your enemies pray for those who persecute you so that what you may be sons of your father who is in heaven who causes his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous he calls us to love as he loves even our enemies so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven sons of god i would refer you back to verse 9 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of god it's through forgiveness if there is peace it is christ's righteousness in us that allows us the ability to love our enemies because it's his love in us we're also told in some of the rest of the sermon that the hypocrites perform worship god for others to see they give to the poor but they sound a trumpet so that they may be honored they pray to god but they do it standing up for others to see but we're told that our relationship with god is secret and intimate and authentic and that we do it in secret because our father is in secret and it's from our heart so he tells us beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven we are told how we should be praying if we are living within the righteousness of christ within his kingdom we are told that we can pray to our father and he warns us in the in the prayer that if we don't forgive others our father in heaven won't forgive us this is another example of walking in mercy because we walk in the mercy of god we share the mercy of god we walk in the forgiveness of god we forgive others this is fellowship with god this is living within the kingdom we're told within the sermon that we don't need to worry about anything we don't need to worry what we're going to eat what we're going to drink what we're going to wear for our father takes care of us we're told not to judge others that's a hard one right not to have a critical heart it says judge not so that you're not judged or in the same way you judge you will be judged and your standard of measure will be measured back to you in the same section he talks about if if you're judgmental you know you don't see the log that's in your own eye and you can't see clearly to help your brother who has a speck this is a clear reference back to being pure in heart and seeing god seeing god as the merciful one when we see god we're not going to be judgmental with our brothers we're not going to be critical of the struggles and the problems and the failures because we see god for who he is and we're able to see the spec that is in our brother's eye and help them we're warned against false teachers false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves there's a bunch of teachers out there that are preaching a false righteousness a righteousness apart from christ and we're to be on guard and it's we're told and josh covered it that we'll know them by their fruits a good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit you don't gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles do you thorn bushes and thistles those are both results of the curse back in eden back in genesis those are curses and the fruit of those curses is what's referred to but jesus is the tree of life and the spirit within us bears fruit and the spirit within the true teachers of the righteous kingdom of christ will bear fruit of peace fruit is sweet we can identify the false teachers all of this is within this passage by their fruit we're told that there's two paths one narrow and one wide many of us believe there's many paths but jesus tells us there's two the wide gate and the narrow gate we need to make sure that we are on the right path how do we make sure that we are on the right path we can look at this message and see how our lives stack up to this are we walking in the righteousness that jesus has provided for us i think it was just last week you know josh covered the section on many will say to me lord lord didn't we do this in your name didn't we do that in your name and i will say to you depart from me i never knew you you workers of iniquity workers of lawlessness for it's only the ones that do the will of the father that enter into the kingdom of heaven what is the will of the father it's in the sermon on the mount it's to walk in mercy it's to walk in forgiveness it's to acknowledge your need and to be filled each and every one of us has the same need prior to coming to jesus we're all broken people we're all faking it unless we know him and if we know him then he gives us his spirit changes our hearts shows us a love and puts that love deep inside and we're able to share that with others and then when we come together as a family we're united by christ in his spirit in this section of scripture that we're looking at today we see that there's a flood that comes there's winds that blow there's rain that falls does this sound familiar to you in the context of the bible does to me it's very similar to the image that we're given in regards to noah and the judgment that came upon the earth back in his day the floods came the winds blew the rain fell there was a judgment in noah's day and for each one of us there is a judgment that we will either stand or fall in and unless we possess the righteousness of christ our houses will fall and great is that destruction if we do not build our house upon these words jesus says these words these words are meant for us to go over to understand to meditate upon to take to heart these words we're like a foolish man foolish and we will not stand in the judgment when jesus finished these words the crowds were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes he was teaching as one having authority because he does have authority not as their scribes he is the king in the very next section chapter 8 we're told when jesus came down from the mountain large crowds followed him it's a good image to have in our minds that when jesus begins this sermon this message these words that we should make as the foundation of our lives that he went up on the mountain he sat and he taught with authority it begins with him taking the position of authority giving teaching and its closes with the crowds being amazed for he was teaching them as one having authority but the beginning of chapter 8 tells us that jesus came down from the mountain just as jesus came down from heaven to rescue us even on earth jesus came down from the mountain after giving the proclamations of blessing and large crowds followed him and a leper came to him this isn't coincidence that this is the next section after jesus giving this message matthew has crafted this for us to see something a leper came to him and bowed down before him and said lord if you are willing you can make me clean talk about pouring spirit talk about mourning over the state of his own life talk about being gentle this is a picture of what it looks like to enter into the kingdom of heaven he comes to him with his need lord if you are willing you can make me clean jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying i am willing be cleansed this is how each one of us enters into the kingdom of heaven our own righteousness is as filthy rags we have nothing to offer god but our need if we don't see ourselves like this leper we're coming to god in in a way that's not right if we are not bowing before him as lord if we're offering him our services we've got things backwards because he has everything to offer us and he's given us everything lord if you are willing you can make me clean jesus is willing and he will make you clean that is why he came for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life this is a picture of the kingdom everlasting life is being a member of the kingdom of god with the righteousness of god through jesus christ maybe some of you here this morning see that you haven't come to jesus in this way you haven't acknowledged him as lord he is the way he is the truth he is the life no man comes to the father but by him and he is willing would you bow to him today as lord maybe you find yourself realizing that you do believe jesus is lord you you have made a commitment you see that all this is true but you realize that your life isn't stacking up you're not walking in mercy and forgiveness you're judgmental you're critical you don't see the fruit in your life you're demanding your own way you're mad when you don't get it we've all been there but all that needs to die maybe you know in in in the prayer that jesus lays out for us those within the kingdom he still allows for us to fail father forgive us our debts forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who are our debtors who transgress against us we're meant to walk this path to to learn to follow the leading of the spirit but we're called to forgive and if you haven't been living in that way if you haven't been living in walking and mercy and within forgiveness it's time to repent just turn to god make peace with your brother become a peacemaker so if that's you today if you would like to turn to jesus as lord if you would like to come to him in your need in your brokenness acknowledging that he is the one who can save you who can give you this righteousness would you please bow with me in prayer this morning and maybe it's it's you who realizes you're not walking on this path but you'd like to you'd like to repent and walk in his mercy and forgiveness would you too bow with me in prayer for our lord holy jesus we thank you for coming to rescue us we thank you for giving us your life for coming down from the mountain we bow before you as lord this morning acknowledging you and you alone we ask you for your holy spirit to change our hearts then we might follow after you in truth we ask to walk in your forgiveness and your mercy to be bracketed within your kingdom jesus we thank you and we celebrate you today

Channel: • Legacy •

Views: 144

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Josh Thompson. Pastor Josh, Legacy City Church, Church in LA, Church in Los Angles, Church in Studio City, Christian Church Studio City, Christian Church Los Angles, Christian Church LA, Legacy, Legacy City Church

Id: M_BRDLRoXBs

Length: 50min 50sec (3050 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 12 2021