Sermon On The Mount

Foundations Tested

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 25-25

Genre:

Track: 25

Dictation Name: Sermon on the Mount – 25

Location/Venue:

Year: 1980

Glory be to Thee oh Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost who of Thy grace and mercy have called us to be Thy people. We praise Thee, Father, Son and Holy Ghost that Thou hast ordained all things in Thy wisdom, in Thy eternal decree and Thine is the victory and the kingdom. Give us faith therefore as we walk in the midst of all these evils and as we see the heathen rage against Thee and Thy kingdom to know that Thou art He who sittest in the circle of the heavens and doth laugh at the vanity of man. Fill us with Thy heavenly laughter and make us more than conquerors through Him that loved us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, Amen.

Our scripture this morning is Matthew 7:24 following. We come now to the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And our subject: Foundations Tested. Foundations Tested, Matthew 7:24 following.

3

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.””

Friday night when we were studying the doctrine of the covenant we saw that whenever the law was given, whenever a covenant was ratified, there were both blessings and curses pronounced. Blessings for obedience to the covenant and the covenant law and curses for disobedience thereunto.

We have of course the great summons to obedience in Leviticus 26:3-45 and Deuteronomy 27 and 28. And in both cases we have the curses and the blessings pronounced. This is always true of the making of the covenant and of the giving of covenant law. The same is true of the Sermon on the Mount. It begins with the Beatitudes, the blessings, throughout it speaks of God’s judgment upon those who depart from His word and it concludes with a parable of the judgment that befalls anyone who will not build his life upon the rock. Thus our Lord very, very obviously is here again giving a summation of the covenant law indicating that he has come to establish again the covenant with a new people, this is what is new about the covenant with Christ, a new people. Now the closing parable about the wise and the foolish builders is an old one. It was not original with our Lord. It was common in Rabbinic teachings, for example Rabbi Nathan long before our Lord had said and I quote:

“A man who has works and has learnt much Torah, or law, to what may he be likened. To a man who builds below with stones and above with adobe and when much water comes and surrounds it the stones are not moved from their place but a man who has no good works and learns Torah to what may he be likened? To a man who builds first with adobe and then with stones and when even small streams come they are immediately toppled over.”

You recognize of course that this is the same illustration our Lord uses although much better stated by our Lord. But there is an obvious difference. The rabbinical original declares that knowing the word, hearing the word, is not enough. Faith without works, in other words, is dead.

But our Lord uses this with a very major difference: our Lord comments throughout the Sermon on the Mount on God’s law, on the Mosaic revelation. But He speaks of that revelation and of His own comments as equally the word, the law of God. So that having summed up the law of God and given His own comments concerning it He says whosoever will not hearken to my sayings, and He sums up in that everything that Moses said and everything that He says. Everything that is in the law, the Old Testament and everything that He declares. These sayings of mine, Calvin long ago said that in that phrase, these sayings of mine, our Lord summed up the law and the prophets and the whole body of doctrine that the scripture teaches. The test is thus:

“24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them.”

Our Lord makes very clear that His word and the word of God are one and the same. He declares that the true test of faith is not verbal profession but the actual doing of the will of God, of being a working member of Christ’s kingdom. Only such, only such a life has foundations. Now about a hundred and twenty five or more years ago one traveler in the Middle East, in Palestine, wrote on how foundations were still built and from all the available knowledge apparently were so built back to Bible times. It’s a surprising fact and one which may seem strange to us today because very few buildings unless they are skyscrapers are so built. Let me quote:

“At this very day the mode of building in Christ’s own town of Nazareth suggests the source of this image. Dr. Robinson was entertained in the house of a Greek Arab. The house had just been built and was not yet finished. In order to lay the foundations he had dug down to the solid rock as is usual throughout the country here to the depth of thirty feet and then built up arches.”

Now our Lord apparently has reference to this when He says you build upon the rock. To build on the surface is to build on sand. Now the term rock is a very obvious one, it has reference to God. Throughout the Bible when the term rock is used symbolically it always refers to God with one exception. For example in Deuteronomy 32: 15, 18 and 30 we have references to the rock, the rock of Israel, God the Lord. Then in Deuteronomy 32:31 Moses says their rock is not as our rock, their god is not as our God, the living God. So that even the one exception still has reference to god, although a false god. Now in this parable our Lord is saying that He is God incarnate and that our lives depend on hearing and doing His word. The leaders of Israel knew what He was talking about. From the very beginning they recognized that which they charged Him with later, that He made Himself to be one with God, they said. And even the common people recognized that there was something different here. We are told that the people were astonished at His doctrine for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Much later when our Lord asks His disciples whom do the people say that I am? They said well, you, in their eyes, perhaps Elijah, resurrected, or Jeremiah or John the Baptist even, someone like Moses. Someone who’s come back from the dead, someone who once gave the word and said thus saith the Lord, so that when you speak they know it is somehow supernatural.

And if they do not identify you as God at least they identify you as someone from the dead, one of the men of God from of old. Very obviously form the very beginning people recognized that there was something supernatural about Jesus Christ. The common people may not have been ready to say Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God but they knew He was not as other men. That there was a supernatural power there. And our Lord said I am the test and every faith shall be tested. In terms of me. In terms of their relationship to me. So that there is no escaping the test. The floods of life, the storm of life will overwhelm all those who do not build upon me. Calvin says of this and I quote:

“Christ therefore compares a vain and empty profession of the gospel to a beautiful but not solid building which however elevated is exposed every moment to a downfall because it wants a foundation. Accordingly, Paul enjoins us to be well and thoroughly founded on Christ and to have deep roots that we may not be tossed and driven about by any wind of doctrine, that we may not give way at every attack, the general meaning of the passage is the true piety is not fully distinguished from its counterfeit till it comes to the trial. Or the temptations by which we are tried are like billows and storms which easily overwhelm unsteady minds whose lightness is not perceived during the season of prosperity.” Unquote.

The bible again and again speaks about the testing. Here the imagery is of a storm and of a flood. In other instances it is of fire and we are told that we are to be refined as with fire in a number of cases. There is one very interesting instance of this in Isaiah 48:10.

“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”

Now this is a difficult sentence. It is obvious in that we are going to be refined by fire but what does the reference to silver mean?

The commentators indicate that the idiom there is not too clear but that the meaning seems to be reasonably clear. We are refined but we are not silver to begin with. The Lord puts us through the test, He breaks us so that we see we are dross and then He converts us and makes us into a new creation. So that what we were not before the testing we become. Well here our Lord is warning us unless you are refined, unless you are broken, unless you turn from yourself as the foundation because the foundation of sand is man, humanism and build upon the rock even myself the floods will come to test you and will overwhelm and destroy you. Now notice, our Lord says therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. In other words, mere profession is not enough. I think one of the sad facts that has plagued Christianity through the centuries is that not only in the medieval church but especially under Protestantism easy believism, mere profession, a verbal affirmation has been equated with faith. But faith and faithfulness are related. They are inseparable. Faith means hearing and doing. Faith requires that we put our life on the line so that what we profess is what we live in terms of. But today easy believism is too common place. I have cited before but let me cite again the statement by a southern pastor in Houston who insists that all we have to do to bind God to a contract is to say I believe in Jesus Christ and he says whether you become a murderer, or an atheist, a blasphemer or whatever, the Lord is bound to His contract to keep you and to take you to heaven.

Now clearly our Lord’s words give the lie to that. We cannot subscribe to this easy believism, it is whosoever hearest these sayings of mine and doeth them.

““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 the rock, the rock of ages, even Jesus Christ. Both men are hearers of the word so our Lord is talking about the church. He is talking about the fact that these are people who claim to be a part of His covenant, who claim to believe. They are hearers of the word, both of them, but some are not doers thereof. Israel was a covenant nation, a covenant people but it was unbelieving and given over therefore to judgment. The greatest single judgment in all of history. And here our Lord condemns those who hear but do not obey Him. Those who like the Israelites of the Old Covenant are content to say the temple of the Lord is with us and to make an empty profession without being doers of the word. The Sermon on the Mount, thus, is a commentary on the law and the prophets, on the covenant of God. Our Lord says I say unto you, not thus saith the Lord. We cannot be partakers of His power and of the power of His word apart from Him as our foundation. Ours must be a total building upon Jesus Christ as Lord. Only so when the floods of life overwhelm us will we stand firm because our foundation is Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God who by Thy grace has taken us who are dross and made us a new creation and made us silver and gold in Thy palace, heirs of all things, members of Thy covenant. We praise Thee for Thy word. We praise Thee for Thy plain speaking. Make us hearers and doers of Thy word that we may be more than conquerors, that we may go forth as dominion men to bring every area of life and thought into captivity to Jesus Christ. All things are possible with Thee oh Lord and we come to Thee to cast our every care, our every need upon Thee who carest for us. Bless us this day and always to thy service, praise and glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Question] What’s the difference between this building and the building of wood and hay which will be burned away? They are often equated.

[Rushdoony] That’s a very good question, I’d like to duck it for the time being because we’re going to start a series that will deal with that, in due time. So I don’t want to jump ahead, but you don’t mind. Yes?

[Question] Your comments about a rock were interesting and I was reminded of the scripture with Peter ‘upon this rock I will build my church’ often times that is misconstrued, is it not?

[Rushdoony] Very good point. When our Lord said to Peter thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my church He meant Himself. He was Petros, belonging to the rock, but Christ was the rock. Now the interpretation I gave you is a very old one and one of the most famous sermons on the subject was given by Aelfric a generation before the Norman Invasion of England. So that there is no question that they knew the meaning of that phrase in those days. Yes?

[Question] I have heard it said that the rock is often referred to as the foundation of the apostles, speaking of Peter as being the representative of the apostles and the church is built upon the apostles.

[Rushdoony] That would lead then to the view that took over in the later Middle Ages in the Catholic Church. But the view of Aelfric and the view of the old English Church prior to the Norman Conquest was, I think, the true view, namely that the rock is Jesus Christ. And it is interesting in the old English of Aelfric as he renders that text he says ‘our Lord said unto Peter thou art rocken’ belonging to the rock. So the very form of the English made Peter’s name to mean belonging to. Yes?

[Question] In Isaiah 51 the first verse it says:

“Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”

So that might be a parallel there, could you comment on that?

[Rushdoony] Yes the rock there is the covenant and the covenant God because He says then:

“Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.”

And He says ‘ye that seek the Lord, look unto the Rock’. Go back to the covenant and to the foundations. Then He goes on to say:

“4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.”

So it’s the covenant, the covenant God, the covenant law that He refers them to. Any other questions, yes?

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Yes. The church humanly speaking of course began with the apostles but it is not built on any other than Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone, He is the rock.

[Question Unintelligible]

[Rushdoony] Well, in the later middle ages the doctrine developed that Peter and the Vatican had periodically propounded it but there were popes also who opposed the doctrine: that Peter was the founder of the church and he was the rock on whom the church was built, therefore all who were not associated with Rome and the successors of Peter were not in the church. And it led to the doctrine outside the Church of Rome, there is no salvation which was renounced in the early fifties when Father [unknown] in Boston with his reactionary group of Catholics insisting on the narrowest possible interpretation. The Catholic Church has been moving away from that and of course you now have a rather sustained attack on the doctrine of Papal infallibility from within the church and someone who was a Vatican scholar has written a book attacking the doctrine of the papal infallibility, [unknown] who just died recently. Any further questions?

Well we shall meet again two weeks from now when we shall deal with the doctrine of the church and of its ordinances and government but instead of beginning as I think is fallacious in all too many churches, they begin with what they are now and then go back to find proof texts to buttress the Baptist or Presbyterian or catholic or Episcopalian position. We’ll begin at the beginning of the bible and see what God ordains, what He set forth and what the meaning of that is.