Mar. 29, 2026

Do you remember Sam’s talk last week?  I’m curious to know how it impacted you.  He gave us the analogy of a lost cell phone.  How do we react when we can’t find our cell phone?  Our heart rate goes up.  We get focused.  We hunt for it.  Why?  Because finding that phone is important.  Jesus taught to ask, seek, and knock.  Then Sam asked, “Why do people who love God struggle to make the daily choice to spend time with their Heavenly Father?”  

The latest research shows that Christians in America today are praying less (44% say they pray daily), reading their Bibles less (32% say they read their Bibles daily), and attending church less (around 30% say they attend church around once a week).  Via Pew Research Center.  

I really encourage you to see that sermon.

Today, we end the Sermon on the Mount.  I am so excited to share with you how people responded to Jesus.  Let’s read about it.

Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority - quite unlike their teachers of religious law. NLT

Scripture says the crowds were amazed.  Amazed is Greek is ἐξεπλήσσοντο (exeplēssonto), and it means they were struck with panic, or were profoundly amazed.  Think about that.  When they heard Jesus talk about the Kingdom of Heaven, they were overwhelmed and struck with panic.

After walking through the Sermon on the Mount, what has been your experience?  Have you been overwhelmed or struck with panic?  When you heard Jesus’ talk about God’s kingdom, did it completely flip your life upside down?  Or has it been just another Sunday talk at MRC with different videos?  The reality is, if it hasn’t deeply impacted you, if it hasn’t flipped your life upside down, it might not have sunk into your heart yet. 

Think about what Jesus taught for a second.  Jesus explained a blessed life.  You are blessed when you are at the end of your rope, when you lose what is most dear to you, when you are content with who you are.  When you heard that, did it change you?  Did it change how you view what a blessed life is?

Jesus said, you are here to be a difference maker, salt and light.  And if not, you have lost your saltiness.  How did that impact you?  Did it confront you with how you are living?  Did you make any changes based on what Jesus said?

Jesus taught that how you live out the law matters more than the law.  The attitude and motivation in your heart matter.  When you're angry, you commit murder.  When you lust, you commit adultery.  Stale marriage or divorce, living with integrity, all of it matters.  Don’t hate your enemies, love your enemies.  Did this radically change how you understood the law?

As a disciple of Jesus, Jesus said, don’t be a hypocrite.  In prayer, fasting, and tithing, don’t be fake.  When it comes to money, store your money in heaven.  Did you go home, process the role of money in your life, and make changes?

Jesus said, Don’t worry about life.  When you heard that, was that a challenge to hear?  Did you wrestle with that?  Did it flip your life upside down? 

Jesus taught don’t be judgmentally critical of others.  Don’t jump on their faults unless you want to be judged the same way.  Did this expose how you talk about others?  Did this cause you to stop, reflect, and have more compassion for others?

Jesus said, ask, seek, knock.  Did that change you this past week?

When the crowds heard Jesus say these things, they were struck with panic, profoundly amazed.  I think we should ask ourselves, did this happen to me?  When walking through the Sermon on the Mount, was I profoundly amazed, struck with panic?  Did I make any changes?

Let’s read how Jesus ended his sermon.

Matthew 7:13 You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority - quite unlike their teachers of religious law. NLT

Jesus makes it very clear that after hearing Him talk, you are at a crossroads.  There are two paths that you can take.  One is wide and easy.  And that path is the one most people will take.  It’s normal.  It’s common.  It’s easy.  There are no challenges.  There are no changes.  And this path leads to hell.

The other is narrow and hard.  And few people take this path.  This path isn’t normal.  It’s not common.  This path will challenge you.  This path will demand change.  And if you follow this path, it leads to heaven.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t give us a third path.  There is no middle ground.  There isn’t an option where you can keep a foot on both paths.  So, you must wrestle with the question, after hearing the Sermon on the Mount, what road am I on?  We must rethink our faith.

Jesus said, The gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult.  Why?  Because it’s going to cost you everything.  When we give our lives to Jesus, we live out what Jesus asks of us.  And that isn’t easy all the time because we are born selfish, prideful, sinful people who want our way.  If you think about it, it’s a radical and violent decision to surrender what we want for what Jesus wants.  We don’t grab Jesus and demand that He make us more comfortable and successful.  No, we give our lives to Jesus and ask, What is it that you want?

2 Corinthians 5:15 He died for all so that all who live - having received eternal life from him - might live no longer for themselves, to please themselves, but to spend their lives pleasing Christ who died and rose again for them. TLB

We live to please Jesus, not ourselves.  Remember what Jesus told the rich young man?  Go sell everything, give it to the poor, and follow me.  What was happening?  Jesus is demanding this radical and violent moment when we give up everything to place our hope in God.  I abandon myself.  It’s the end of me, my success, my wants, my pride.  I am desperate to leave the path that goes to hell to get on the path that goes to heaven.

Jesus said,

John 12:25 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. NLT

It’s a radical and violent moment when we make a huge decision to go after God.  It’s a decision that destroys our spiritual illness of comfort, indifference, and lukewarm feelings toward God, the church, and the mission of Jesus.  Modern-day Christians have a way of charging through life, making no changes, and wondering how Jesus can make them happier, more successful, and more comfortable. 

After hearing Jesus’ words, we must ask ourselves, what road am I on?  You see, the road we are on tells us what we believe about what Jesus said.  We either believe what Jesus is teaching, and it radically changes us, and we are desperate to leave the path that goes to hell for the path that goes to heaven.  Or, we hear what Jesus said, and just think it’s another Sunday, another talk with empty words.  We leave with no passion to make any change.  We either wake up every day with the purpose to please Jesus, not ourselves.  Or we wake up every day, not thinking much about it, and just continue to do what pleases us.  Ask yourself, what road am I on?

After Jesus talks about the two roads, He gives more stories.  Trees that produce fruit.  Two kinds of people.  Two kinds of foundations.  In each analogy, Jesus is explaining, there are two ways of living. 

There are two kinds of fruit.  And by the way we act, our fruit, it reveals who we really are on the inside.  Our actions reveal who we are living for.  It reveals what path we are on.  Do you remember the Parable of the Talents?  Jesus shared the story of a man leaving on a trip and giving money to three servants.  The man came back and wanted to know, ‘What have you done with my money?’  It was a story about Jesus giving us time, talent, and treasure.  He will come back someday and want to know, ‘What did you do with what I gave you?  How did you build my kingdom?’  Your actions, how you live, and the practical choices you make, reveal who you are living for. 

Jesus said, You can identify people by their actions.  What are your actions?  Are you enjoying a relationship with Jesus that is transforming you?  How do you treat others?  How are you taking your time, talent, and treasures to build God’s kingdom?  I ask because your actions reveal who you are living for.

Jesus continues, there are two kinds of people.  Now notice that Jesus was talking to people in the church.  People who do church work.  Jesus said some do what they do to be praised by others.  To be noticed by others.  To get the approval and glory from people.  And on judgment day, Jesus said I will say, ‘I never knew you.’  The other kind of person actually does what I ask.  They don’t do it for the glory from people, but for My glory.  They are real, authentic.  They walk in a relationship with me. 

When you hear this, it should scare us.  It should wake us up.  There is a day when we will stand in the presence of God, and the way we lived, the choices we made, our relationship with Jesus, and how we treated others, will matter that day.   It shakes me up to think that on judgment day I could hear, ‘I never knew you.’

Jesus said, Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  The approval of others won’t matter that day.  Saying that you will take God seriously in the future won’t matter that day.  Your human achievement will not matter that day.  Please hear me, it is true that many will say they believe in Jesus, and they will never enter heaven. What will matter is your relationship with Jesus and living it out with a pure and passionate heart. 

Do you see what Jesus is saying?  What road are you on?  What fruit do you produce?  Whose voice of approval do you want, the crowd or Jesus? 

Lastly, you will build your life on a foundation.  One kind of life is built on the foundation of appearances.  They care only about today, what this world values.  They care about how they look to others.  They only want to do what is comfortable and easy.  They hear what Jesus is teaching and walk away from it.  But when hard times come, they crumble, they lose everything.  They will be shattered because the life they built can’t sustain hard times.

But the other person is different.  They care about the things of God.  They care about things that matter, eternal things.  They hear what Jesus is teaching, and they begin to implement what Jesus is teaching.  When hard times come, they are able to sustain them because of their faith in God.

Do you see what Jesus is saying?  The storms of life will expose the life we built.  We have to begin the process to tear out the old foundation and pour a new foundation. 

So what path are you on?  What fruit do you produce?  Whose voice of approval do you want?  What foundation have you built in your life, and will it sustain you through hard times?  

I want you to rethink your faith.  Have you ever made the radical and violent decision to leave the path that goes to hell to get on the path that goes to heaven?  Do you desperately want to leave the road that leads to hell for the road that leads to heaven?  There are two roads, which one are you on?