Sermon On The Mount

Foundations

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 24-25

Genre:

Track: 24

Dictation Name: Sermon on the Mount – 24

Location/Venue:

Year: 1980

Let us begin with prayer. Oh Lord our God who art creator of heaven and earth and all things therein. We give thanks unto Thee that in Thy sovereign grace and majesty Thou art mindful of all things. Thy love extends to us and to our children’s children and Thy covenant and its blessings is for us and our household and so we come in thanks giving and in joy to praise Thee, to rejoice in Thy covenant grace and to yield ourselves afresh unto Thy word and Thy spirit. Bless us this day and always in Thy service, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our subject this morning is Foundations and our text is Matthew 7:21 following. till the end of the chapter.

“21 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.

22 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?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 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:

25 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.

26 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:

27 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.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

We have been studying for some time now the Sermon on the Mount and we come now to the conclusion. The Sermon on the Mount is a unity and we fail to understand its meaning if we forget that unity. You’ll recall it begins with a series of pronouncements, blessed are they, that is, happy, successful, prosperous are they who meet these requirements. Blessed are the pure in spirit, those in other words who feel their spiritual need for they shall be filled. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. Who are the meek? The word goes back to a very ancient word as we saw meaning those who are broken to harness, tamed, disciplined by God and His Spirit. And so our Lord continues then to deal with the marks of those who are truly of His kingdom. Now we have to remember his audience. He was talking to Judeans and Israelites, people of the Promised Land. The covenant people. And they were convinced that all of them were saved. In a later confrontation when our Lord made clear that He regarded the people who He was talking to, leaders of the nation, to be unregenerate, to be sinners and slaves of sin their angry response was we be sons of Abraham and slaves to no man. They believed that by virtue of their blood membership in the chosen people they were of the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact they had developed the doctrines of super arrogation, they held that if you were born of the blood of Abraham you were saved because Abraham had performed so many good works that there was a storehouse of good works in heaven which could be appropriated by the worst of his descendants to the end of time. So simply by being of the blood of Abraham they were of the kingdom. What our Lord does is to make clear to them that they are not. Blessed are these, he says. They who feel their spiritual need and you are proud you don’t have any need.

Those who are broken to harness and you’re not in harness to God. You want to harness God for your purposes. By their fruit shall ye know them, He goes on to say. A good tree brings forth good fruit but an evil tree brings forth evil fruit so don’t look at their profession, don’t look at their Abrahamic blood, look at their fruits. So now as he concludes he says not everyone that says unto thee Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now this immediately reminds us of a parable that our Lord spoke, one which He almost echoes in these words or summarizes. The parable of judgment. And again like this passage, in fact the Sermon on the Mount, it is commonly misunderstood. In Matthew 25:31 following we read that our Lord says:

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Now as he turns to those who He was set on His left and sentences them there are many that say Lord, when saw we Thee and hungered or athirst or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? They say Lord, unto Him because among those that are separated are many who have called Him Lord. Just as in the Sermon on the Mount our Lord says not everyone who says unto me Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven. What is the test? Their fruits. By their fruits shall ye know them. Not everyone who sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he who doest the will of my father which is in heaven. I’ve thought of these passages a great deal in the past three years and with a sense of urgency because as you know I have been back and forth across country and a part of many, many trials and it has been interesting to see in those trials how there are many who say Lord, Lord, and are full of piety who stand up and witness against the persecuted Christians. How many there were in Texas who were ready to side with the state, for example, against Lester Roloff. And who are ready to do anything to avoid having to line up with Roloff, who are ready to say, well he’s a difficult person to get along with or this or that to evade the real issue that the state was claiming the power and is still claiming it to rule Christ’s church and kingdom. I think this applies to such people. By their fruit shall you know them, Lord when saw we these sick, or hungry, or naked or imprisoned? Lester Roloff has been twice in prison, three times condemned and maybe now a fourth time but which of these men were ready to stand with him, and yet they are ready to say Lord, Lord. By their fruits shall ye know them. Well what about the fruits? Some will claim fruits, some will claim fruits, many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Thy name? Prophesied here in the sense of preached. So our Lord is aiming pretty directly at a lot of preachers.

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. Now that’s an amazing statement. Here are people who say we preached and our Lord doesn’t say they were false preachers and they say they have cast out devils and our Lord doesn’t say no, you didn’t. And in Thy name done many wonderful works, very impressive works, and our Lord doesn’t say you did not but He says I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Because what you did was not done unto me, let not your right hand let your left hand know what it is doing. What you do our Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount before men and to be seen of men will give you a reward from men but only that which you do for me and unto me will receive a reward from me. So our Lord makes clear that by their fruit shall ye know them and if they are working for whom are they working, for me or for public display. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. We can see clearly that the Sermon on the Mount is aimed at people who claim to be members of Christ’s kingdom. And our Lord is making clear that He does not want mere profession He wants a living and obedient faith.

“24 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:”

Or more literally, the rock. Now every time the word rock is used in scripture Old or New Testament, save one, as a symbol, it represents God. The Rock of Ages cleft for me, we have that symbolization also. Rock was an ancient symbol of the faith.

The term rock represented in antiquity and into modern times God Himself. The one exception to such usage, the term rock standing for the almighty, is when Moses speaks of the pagan gods and he says their rocks are not as our rock. This is why when our Lord speaks to Peter and says your name is no longer Simon, Son of Jonas, but from hence forth it is Peter, Petros, belonging to the rock. Because upon this rock your confession of me as Christ the son of the living God I will build my church. So the church is not built upon Peter but upon the confession that Jesus Christ is very God of very God.

“24 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:”

The rock, upon God incarnate, upon God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Now to build our life upon God means to be grounded upon Him in all that we do, it does not mean that our life is our own and then we give a part of our time, a part of our income to the Lord but everything that we are and do is governed by God and His word. Our Life today is built upon sand as a nation.

“26 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:

27 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.”

In God we trust but the way we operate will be in terms of what we want, in terms of the democrat principle, in terms of the majority, in terms of human rights, or in terms of male or female or white or black interests, whatever the case may be at the moment. In terms of sand. And we’ll just add God to it and we’ll believe in God as life and fire insurance, after all every sensible man carries an insurance policy and life and fire insurance with God, well, Jesus Christ is a pretty good agent, judging by what He promises.

And this is what it means to build your life upon sand. Remember our Lord here is talking as He deals with the man who builds his house upon the rock and the man who builds his house upon sand to the people of Israel and of Judea who professed to be believers but were soon to have the judgment that fell upon Judea and the whole land, the greatest single disaster in all of human history. He is talking to us because in our time so many claimed to be of Christ, fifty five million adults profess to be born again Christians and if we had that many this country would be governed by Christians, four percent puritans dominated England. Our country is built upon sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the rains blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. But when a man builds his house upon God the rains may descend and the floods come and the rains blow and beat upon that house but it will not fall for it is founded upon the rock. The Sermon on the Mount therefore is directed to those who are outwardly of the faith, to summon them to build their house, their lives totally upon God and His word. The storms are coming, we are in a time of world crisis. This is a decade which will be a memorable one in history because we’re going to see dramatic things happen. I was very interested to read not too long ago by a very discerning historian the statement that powerful as it seems to be today given the world crisis it would be a foolhardy man to say that the Soviet Union will survive this century. We could add that any country will intact. We are in a time of judgment and we shall see that those whose house as individuals and a nation is built upon sand will fall and this will be a blessing.

Because it will mean as Paul makes clear in Hebrews that we are in a time of great shaking because God brings a shaking upon things that are so that those things which are unshakable might alone remain. Let us therefore so live that our lives, our houses, may be unshakable. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God we thank Thee for Thy word. We thank Thee for Thy sovereign grace unto us. Give us grace abounding, grace day by day to conform our lives unto Thee, to be established grounded and built upon Jesus Christ our Rock and in the storms of history we may stand and flourish. Being Thy blessed meek who shall inherit the earth. Our God we praise Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes?

[Question] If Christ spoke to those who obviously would call him Lord, Lord and who were obviously not of the flock then what, where did they acquire the power to perform miracles and cast out demons if in fact they did, as it would appear.

[Rushdoony] A very good question. How did they acquire the power to cast out demons and perform wonderful works? What our Lord says 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. In other words whatever they themselves were they did these things in the name of Christ invoking His power and Paul tells us that there were many false preachers, very hostile to Him running around and yet he thanks God that in spite of themselves because of the word and that which they were proclaiming the kingdom was still being served and Christ glorified. Now this is a question that the early church wrestled with because one of the things that happened that was really devastating to many people was when the persecutions came many people who were converts of a man who maybe had been instrumental in the salvation of a great number of people found that the minute there was any hint of persecution and the possibility of death these men renounced the faith and recanted as hastily as they could.

Paul himself speaks of a case like that when he writes very sorrowfully concerning one who had been a partner of his on one missionary journey after another and a very able partner and he says Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Now it was hard for these people to take what had happened and they wondered I believe in Christ, I know myself as a Christian, I stood the test, I maybe lost a hand or an eye under torture but did not renounce the faith but is my conversion real when the man who converted me turns out to be a pagan, when it’s all over. You see, but the fact that it was the word of God and done in His name brought power beyond themselves into the picture. Yes, Howard?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] No, we dealt with that earlier now I’ll go into it again. Now there are two things at stake in that passage. First we need to realize the context, they were living under foreign rule. The thing that was the most lively issue in the nation, in Judea and Galilee we would say in the terms of the old fashioned words, Judah and Israel, was a tax revolt. That’s why our Lord was asked the question ‘is it lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar’ and they came, Luke says, with spies because they wanted to nail Him, arrest Him, if He said it is not lawful which would have been the only attitude that the people would have accepted. But if He said it is lawful He was finished. So they figured either way He answers He’s finished but our Lord says whose coinage functions in this country, well Caesars, he’s providing the law and the order, give Caesar what belongs to him. But if you render or give back to God that which is Gods you will change the country and Caesar will be irrelevant.

Now, they had this compulsory situation so the word that he uses, if any man compels you to go a mile go with him twain, the context is one of compulsion. It’s an ancient word for compulsory draft. So that don’t resist this kind of draft. Give to him that asketh thee and from thee that will borrow thee turn not away. So you had a situation where to resist would have meant arrest. You had forced loans, you had them in our time, in some countries we have seen expropriation of bank accounts, the government borrows them, thats happened in the Soviet Union at least once. During the war everybody worked, they were told to deposit their money and afterward the government said we’re borrowing all of your bank accounts and they never got a penny for it. It’s a loan to this day.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Today the attitude of people is to go to the bible and take selected texts out of context and to hit you with them to make you surrender to their perspective, you see. So that somehow you are a defective Christian if you don’t give on demand. And our Lord is striking at an evil in their midst, a false spirit of resistance when resistance was wrong, when it was a situation of compulsion.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes, but one thing to remember about Romans 13, we always have to remember context. Now in the epistles in every instance wherever any of the writers, Paul or James or anybody else treats something what he is doing is writing a letter and he’s answering questions. Questions that have been raised.

Well as far back as the nineties [unknown] dealing with some of the patristic literature pointed out, now he was a far out liberal but he recognized that it was unquestionable in the early church that Jesus was indeed God. Now, because he was God and because the most common term used for Him was Lord which means sovereign, absolute owner, God. The question was well where does Caesar fit into the picture, Caesar claims to be Lord, to be sovereign, and should we ever obey Caesar? So Paul deals with that question. The powers that be are ordained of God and He generalizes, it’s just not the state. They are ministers of God, therefore they must be under the word of God and they are derelict if they are not because a minister or a deacon which is what it literally is as you know, is somebody who is a servant, under authority, acting under orders. Well God will judge them if they are not, well then he goes not to say that we must obey them for conscience sake, not because they command us, but in obedience to God, in so far as the law of God permits obedience. So the whole point of Romans 13 is to say that all human authorities are ordained of God to be ministers of God and are to be obeyed in so far as they do not command that which is contrary to God. When I say it is generalized even though the state is included there it’s very clear that it is because he says they are to be a terror to evil works which the state is to be and the praise of the good. Now no state in history has ever praised good citizens or rewarded you for being an honest tax payer, you are penalized if you are honest all too often. So we can determine the meaning by asking ourselves ‘what is the question that was raised’. Does that help?

Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Repeat that again.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] With regard to such people, yes. That’s a very good question and a rather difficult one, because first of all we’re told the parable fo the tares and the wheat that there is to be no premature attempt to divide, wait till they come to the point of maturity. So it is clear what they are. But when their fruits make manifest what they are workers of iniquity we are to separate ourselves from such. So that we are not to continue, say in a church, where the fruits of their faith indicate that it’s the wrong faith, a false faith. So our Lord here is establishing the line of division as He speaks to Judah and Israel of His day because He’s calling out some people from them and He is training the disciples who are brought up to see all people of the chosen race as saved that they’re not. So He’s teaching them discrimination which is what we are to learn because everyone is ostensibly of the church, everyone in old Russia was supposedly a Christian. Everybody was baptized at birth, everybody took part in the church and suddenly it become aware with the events of the revolution that only a small segment of them were Christians and were ready to stand in terms of the faith, to pay the price thereof. And the same thing happened under Hitler. So sooner or later God compels a division. The longer we wait to make that division the more drastic the consequences for us. Any other questions or comments?

Well then our meeting is adjourned and we’ll meet again in two weeks.