WOULD YOU LOVE GOD THIS MUCH?
MF Blume
April 6, 1997 pm
Mat 7:21-27 Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish
man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
- Everyone in this building
is "building a house"
- Your interest and concern
for the things of God is evident since you are HERE to hear the preaching.
- You consider God and the
Bible or you would not be here.
- From the least active in
the church tonight, to the most active, you are all building houses.
- Jesus said the ones who
build have one thing in common.
- They believe and call Jesus
"Lord".
- But you are either building
on sand or a rock.
- People all over the world
are building houses.
- Let us leave out the people
who do not believe in God tonight.
- Leave out the other religions.
- All people who believe
in JESUS are building houses.
- They are trying to prepare
for the storm that they know is coming.
- Other religions do not
believe Jesus will judge us.
- So they believe in no storm
which Jesus is talking about.
NOTICE JESUS' FLOW OF THOUGHT:
- Only those who do the Father's
will can enter the Kingdom.
- Doing God's will causes
Jesus to KNOW us.
- This is true because Jesus
points out that we must do His will to enter the Kingdom and then explains
how He will say He never knew some people, and will tell them to depart.
- They cannot enter.
- He explains that knowing
Him and doing the Father's will is hearing His sayings and doing them.
- We must understand that
His sayings are the Father's will.
John 7:16-17 Jesus answered them,
and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do
his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether
I speak of myself.
John 14:10 Believest thou not that
I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you
I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
He told people the will of
the Father.
And finally, John explains
this very clearly.
1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know
that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Mat 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second
is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
- We see that God's WILL is
that we love Him and love our neighbours.
- This is His greatest commandments.
- John said we know that
we KNOW Him when we keep His commandments.
- And those who KNOW Him
are the only ones who will be saved.
- He will check whether He
knows us at judgment.
- No wonder Paul said, "THAT
I MAY KNOW HIM"!
Phil 3:10-11 That I may know him,
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being
made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead.
- By all means we must attain
to the resurrection of the dead.
- We cannot miss this resurrection.
- Knowing Him and doing His
will are the same thing.
- Without it we will not be
saved.
I. THE IMPORTANCE
OF HIS WILL
- Jesus compared those who
KNOW HIM to a wise man building His house on a Rock.
- Winds blow and the house
cannot fall.
- Those who cry Lord, Lord,
but never do God's will are the ones who hear His sayings and do not do them.
Jesus said they are like the fool who built his house on sand.
- Many are building houses
today.
- I refer to Christianity.
- Many say they are Christians.
- That is why Jesus said
many will say, "Lord, Lord."
- But a Christian by name
is not a Christian as such.
- Desert dwellers.
- Those who call Jesus Lord
better ensure there is something more to their Christianity than calling Him
Lord.
- They better be doing His
will.
- They better know Him.
- And we know that we know
Him if we keep His commandments.
- And His commandments are
to love God and love our neighbours as ourselves.
- So if you love God and love
your neighbours, along with calling Jesus Lord, you are a wise builder.
- By the way, loving God is
more than SAYING you do. You must actually show it in DOING something. Actions
speak louder than words.
All the world will fall one day.
Hebrews 12:26-13:1 Whose voice then shook
the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the
earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the
removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly
love continue.
- All the world will shake
in judgment.
- Only those in the Kingdom
which cannot be moved will remain.
- Jesus said those who enter
the Kingdom, which Hebrews says cannot be moved, are those who do the Father's
will.
- Love God and love the world.
- Or as Hebrews said it,
those who have grace.
- I must do God's WILL.
- To attain to the resurrection
of the dead.
- To remain standing while
all falls away to nothingness.
- To live eternally with
the Lord.
- Will I love God that much
that I will dedicate all and then LIVE for Him?
- Living for Him is DOING
His will.
II. THE FATHER'S
WILL
- We can see how doing the
Father's will means everything.
- It is building a house on
the Rock that cannot fall.
- A storm is coming.
- Many people will be swept
away.
- Many are not preparing
a house since they do not believe in God and therefore do not believe in
judgment day.
- But many do believe in
God and believe the storm called judgment is coming.
- They are building houses.
- They are going to Churches
and fellowships of all sorts.
- But many of them are only
building on sand since they are calling Him, "Lord", by showing interest
in God but are not DOING anything about it.
- Jesus said they are fools
who build on sand, and their preparation is simply not good enough.
- Observer of all and doer
of nothing, you are building a house that will not stand.
- Think about it.
- You are concerned enough
to come to Church.
- But you are not doing anything
lasting.
- You are doing something.
- You are building a house
on sand.
Two groups and a storm are seen
in Revelation.
Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo,
a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand,
having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and
worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of
waters. Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen,
is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication.
- 144,000 represent one group.
- Babylon represents another
group.
- The STORM of God's judgment
is seen - "the hour of his judgment is come"
- The 144,000 STAND on a mountain.
- House of the WISE stands
in the storm - House of FOOLS falls in the storm.
Notice the link to the Father's
will.
- The ones who do the Father's
will are like a man who builds on the rock, and cannot fall.
- BABYLON is noted for doing
its own will.
Daniel 4:30 The king spake, and said,
Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom
by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let
us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
earth.
And those who will not deny
themselves and do the Father's will by loving Him and loving their neighbour
will be cast down as Babylon.
The 144,00 follow the LAMB
wherever He goes
Revelation 14:4-5 These are they which
were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being
the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no
guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Adultery and fornication spiritually
represents loving the WORLD, when you are married to Christ.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
- Follow the Lamb is obeying
the Lamb's teachings. - all of them.
- They are on the Rock of
Zion.
- After the flood of Noah
was over, notice the ark was all that remained and it was on a mountain.
In the midst of all that falling
and standing in revelation 14, we read:
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience
of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith
of Jesus.
- This sifting out of the
fools and the wise reveals the TRUE saints who keep His commandments.
- As life's problems in general
come our way, the true saints always are seen to STAND.
- Counterfeit saints fall
in trials all the time.
- The true saints STAND in
the all storms.
- Don't give up on the child
of God, he'll be there when the battles over.
- Do you love God this much?
- To be more than just someone
who goes to religion?
- To DO what He says?
- Is there someone here who
has not yet dedicated all to Him?
- Are you tired of just building
on sand?
- Do you feel like tearing
down the wasted effort of weeks and months and years of never really building
on the Rock?
- Are you tired of simply
hearing about God's will and never DOING it yourself?
- Do you want to make sure
you remain while Babylon falls?
- (Babylon is the place God's
people were held in bondage when they were not doing God's will
- Its more than simply not
doing God's will.
- Those who do not do God's
will enter into bondage.
- Are you tired of being
bound?
- Want to be set free?
How will the truth set you free?
.....-by obeying it!