This sermon emphasizes the importance of obeying Jesus's teachings, highlighting the significance of truly living out one's confession of faith. It delves into the need to dig deep and remove hindrances like traditions, prejudices, unbelief, and rebellion to build a solid foundation on Christ. The sermon also underscores the vital role of the Bible as the Word of God, emphasizing the inseparable connection between Jesus and the Scriptures.

Now there's one other parable of Jesus in Luke chapter 6 which is very similar but there's an important addition. So I'm going to turn to Luke chapter 6 for a moment. Verse 46 through 49. Again it's Jesus who's speaking. And he says, But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say? That's an important question. It is futile to call Jesus Lord if you don't obey him. Because the very title Lord means someone who is to be obeyed. And Jesus says, Beware of just having a vocal confession which doesn't affect the way you live. Then he goes on with this parable. Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock, the bedrock, the petra. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built his house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. Now there's one important detail added in Luke, which is not in Matthew. I wonder if how many of you noticed it. It says the man who wanted to reach the bedrock had to dig deep. He had to get a lot of things out of the way before he could build on the bedrock. And that is true with many of us. Maybe not with all of us. But most of us who've grown up in a nominal Christian culture. There's a lot of things we have to get out of the way before we reach the bedrock. Others too who've grown up in a completely non-Christian culture will have to eliminate things too. But they'll be different. And I want to suggest to you five things that we need to dig out of the way. The first is traditions. Now not all traditions are bad. Some traditions are good. We don't want to throw out all the traditions. But Jesus said to the people in his day, by your traditions you have made the Word of God of no effect. You're believing traditions and acting on them which are not in line with the Scripture. And I have to say, according to my observation, Jesus would say exactly the same thing to the same Jewish people today. By your traditions you've made the Word of God of no effect. But let's not just look at the Jews. Because it's true of many others from Christian backgrounds. We've inherited traditions, ways of acting, things we do, words we speak, which are not necessarily in line with Scripture. So we have to be very careful to check. I think I'll refrain from making any specific suggestions. But there are many I could make. Then the second thing we need to eliminate is prejudices. Now there's no one here who hasn't had some prejudices at one time. You may have got rid of them, I don't know. But there are all sorts of prejudices. There are racial prejudices. Unfortunately the world is full today of racial prejudice. And we know in countries like South Africa for instance, where there's been a wonderful change, let me add. Where racial prejudices eliminated certain people from being part of the church. A terrible thought. But that's not the only area where there's racial prejudice. There's, the United States of America has been full of racial prejudice. And in many places still is today. And I'm from a British background and let me say, the British people have their prejudices too. I grew up with many of them. I had to dig deep to get rid of them. My own family background is from India. All my forebears served with British forces in India. And I remember as a boy of about 12, saying innocently at a lunch, I don't see why you couldn't invite an Indian to lunch. And the reaction was one of horror in my family. I thought to myself, what is the reason for this? Well later on I realized this is a prejudice. And believe me I'm looking at a lot of different people from different racial backgrounds. But very few of you are free from all racial prejudice. Then there's denominational prejudice. Most of us react in a somewhat negative way to certain denomination. My first wife who's with the Lord was Danish. And she grew up in the Danish Lutheran Church. And then she did something that was terrible in their eyes. She was baptized as a believer. Which they call in Danish, a second time baptizer. And her case, because she was a teacher in the Danish state school system, actually went before the parliament. As to whether she could remain a teacher. And I'd have to say that my wife continued in a running war with the Lutheran Church. Really to the end of her days. I don't justify that. I think it was a weakness in her. But I've learned myself, when I hear about people belonging to a certain denomination. I develop an attitude against them, without ever meeting them. I think well they're going to be like that. And this is where they're wrong and so on. Experience has taught me, if possible, never judge a person till you've met them. Because I've met people from the wrong denominational background, who were some of the most right people I've known. And some who were from the right background, who were wrong. So please don't give way to denominational prejudice. Then there's social prejudice. Again I'm an example of somebody brought up in social prejudice. I wasn't even aware that I had prejudice. But I was educated in Britain at Eton and then at Cambridge University. And I just didn't know how the rest of the world lived. Then I got plunged into the British Army. And I was together with all sorts of people I'd never have been together with. And I began to realize how limited my knowledge of my own British people was. I thank God for that experience. Five and a half years in the British Army. But it cleansed me of a lot of social prejudices. Having been in the family of officers, I was used to being on that level. And when I was on, not on that level, I learned something. When you see people from the same level they look one way. But when you see them from underneath, they look different. And I've always begun, I've always tried to say in a sense, God how do I look to the people who may see me from underneath. So there's various kinds of prejudice. There's personal prejudice. Some people don't like people with a loud voice. Some people don't like people with red hair. There's all sorts of silly personal prejudices. Most of us have. I have a prejudice against people who munch apples. I really fight it, but it's still in the background. Because I just don't like that noise. Going beyond that, there's preconceptions. People who've got a completely false view of what, of who Jesus is. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, turning up at the Christmas party. That's not the real Jesus. He was a very different kind of person. Very shocking, very prone to eliminate our prejudices and our preconceptions. And there are many other ways we can have preconceptions. Preconceptions of what it's like to be a Christian. Growing up, as I did in the background I'm related, I thought to myself. Well if I were to become a Christian, it would mean misery for the rest of my life. And like Pat Boone, I thought heaven isn't worth 70 years of misery, misery on earth. So I, I completely eliminated the possibility of being a Christian, until I met Jesus. Then there's something else that's very, very dangerous. And that is unbelief. Sometimes when I'm going to teach, I'll begin by getting all the people together with myself, to renounce unbelief. Because many of us are still beset by unbelief in various areas. Our minds are not really open to faith. And lastly and I think the most important, is rebellion. You might say well brother Prince I'm not a rebel. Oh yes you are. And if you haven't discovered it, you'll go on being one. You see I don't want to go into the theology of this. But every descendant of Adam is born with a rebel inside. And we have to identify that rebel and deal with it. And God has only got one remedy for the rebel. You know what that is? Execution, that's right. He doesn't send him to church. He doesn't teach him the golden rule. Doesn't have him memorizing scripture. Puts him to death. But the mercy of God is, the execution took place nearly 2,000 years ago, when Jesus died on the cross. Our old man was crucified with him. And we have to come to the place where we identify that rebel inside us. And we willingly submit to execution. Now I come to the Bible. Because this is this, as as important as anything else in the Christian life. What is your attitude to the Bible? Is your attitude the same as that of Jesus? I just want to take one passage of John's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 35. And I'm not going into the context because it would take quite a while to do so. But Jesus said, if he, that's God, call them gods to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. That's a very significant verse. Because in it Jesus uses the two main titles for the Bible. The word of God and the scripture. Now when it calls the Bible the word of God. It means that it proceeded from God. It didn't proceed from man. It may have come through human channels. But it's a word that comes from God. The phrase the scripture is a limiting phrase. It means that which has been set down in writing. God has said many things which are not set down in writing. But by divine overruling, the Bible contains those things which God said, which he saw needed to be set down in writing. And that is the scripture. That means that which is written. And concerning that Jesus made one simple sweeping statement. The scripture cannot be broken. And you can argue as much as you like about the inspiration of the Bible or the authority of the Bible. But Jesus has said it all. It cannot be broken. It is absolutely authoritative. It will be totally fulfilled. Everything in it will be exactly worked out. You can take your stand against it. You can deny it. But you cannot break it. In fact if you deny it, ultimately it will break you. The scripture cannot be broken. I think I'd like to ask all of you to say that together with me once. The scripture cannot be broken. Now turn and look to somebody next to you and say it to that person. Right, looking them right in the eyes. The scripture cannot be broken. All right. Now that's something settled. You see there's a thing called the higher criticism. Which subjects the scriptures to all sorts of ridiculous fantasies and ends up by making it really a totally ineffective book. If there's one thing that the devil wants to do in your life and mine. It is to undermine our faith in the authority and accuracy of the Bible. But if we are like Jesus, we simply say the scripture cannot be broken. Did you hear me Satan? The scripture cannot be broken. All right. Now the next thing I want to say is that, not only is the Bible the Word of God. But Jesus himself is the Word of God. This comes out in John's Gospel in two places. In John chapter 1 verse 1. Familiar verse. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. That it refers to Jesus. He was the Word. He is the Word. And in John 14, John 1 14. It says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So when Jesus was born, the season that we commemorated Christmas. Though that was not actually the season. The Word became flesh. But he was always the Word. Eternally he was the Word with God. And when he comes back. You know how he's coming back? You know what his name will be? Let me tell you. Revelation chapter 19. This is really remarkable. In the sense that when he first came, he was the Word. When he comes back he will be the Word. This is a picture of Jesus coming out of heaven in glory. To establish his kingdom on earth. Revelation 19 verse 11 12 and 13. Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns, diadems, royal crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. So he was always was the Word, still is the Word and will be the Word. And that brings out something very important. There is total agreement between Jesus and the Bible. Your attitude toward one, is the attitude toward the other. You cannot believe in Jesus and disbelieve the Bible. Did you absorb that fact? Because Jesus is the Word of God. He's the Word made flesh. The Bible is the Word in scripture, writing. Your attitude toward the one, must be the same as your attitude toward the other. There is total agreement between the two. And now as I draw near the end, I want to take five vital facts about the Word of God and your relationship to it. Which are contained in John's gospel chapter 14. Just three verses. Jesus is in a sense taking farewell of his disciples. He's warning them that he's about to leave and they'll be left on their own for a while. And it's a very traumatic time for the disciples. They're overwhelmed with this revelation. But in the middle of it, Jesus gives a marvelous revelation of what the Bible should mean to us as believers. And he says in John 14 verse 19. A little while longer and the world will see me no more. But you will see me, because I live, you will live also. So Jesus made a distinction there between the world, that's those who do not acknowledge Jesus, and his own disciples. He said the world will not see me, but the disciples will see me. And then Judas, not Iscariot, but the other Judas, asked him a very relevant question in verse 22. Judas said to him, Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world. He said that because Jesus said the world will not see me, but you will see me. His question was, how will you manifest yourself to us, not to the world? Now the answer that Jesus gave is just full of important truth. Jesus answered and said to him in verse 23. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. I want to bring out five vitally important facts in the answer of Jesus. First of all, Jesus said he would reveal himself to his disciples, not to the world. What's the distinguishing mark between the disciples and the world? The answer is keeping the word of God. True disciples keep the word of Jesus. They're not marked out by a denominational label. They're marked out by the way they relate to the word. That's what makes you, or otherwise prevents you from being a true disciple. It's your relationship to the word of God. Keeping God's word distinguishes disciples from the world. And in this congregation here this morning, every one of us is in one of those two categories. If we're disciples, we keep the word of God. If we don't keep the word, we belong to the world. To the world that is not under the lordship of Jesus. And then the second truth is, Jesus said if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. So keeping God's word is the supreme test of the disciples love for God. Love is the motivation for obedience. It's very important to understand that as believers we are not motivated by fear. We're motivated by love. In a certain sense the law used the motivation of fear. If you do this you'll be punished. But that doesn't work. I've helped to bring up a large number of children. Some of you wouldn't believe how many and I won't go into that. But I discovered while they're under your control as a parent, you can use fear. But once they leave you, if they've been motivated by fear, they'll change. The only motivation that will keep them loyal and faithful is love. And God and Jesus were wise enough not to build on fear, but to build on love. So keeping God's word is the supreme test of the disciples love for God. If any man loves me, he will keep my word. And love is the motivation for obedience. And then he says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. That's another wonderful fact. Keeping God's word is what causes God the Father to love us with a special love. Now God loved the whole world in a certain way. But God has a very different degree and kind of love for true disciples of Jesus. For those who keep his word. And then we had the question that Judas asked, how will you manifest yourself to us and not to the world. And Jesus' answer was, if anybody loves me he will keep my word. So how does Christ manifest himself to us? Through the word. Through the keeping of the word that we get to know Jesus better. We can have maybe some wonderful spiritual experience. We can be caught up to the third heaven or whatever it may be. But that doesn't happen to most people. And it isn't the basic way by which God reveals himself. And Jesus reveals himself. It is through keeping the word of God. And then finally, and this is an amazing statement. If anyone loves me, my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. There are only a very few places in the Bible where the plural pronoun is used about God. But this is one of them. Jesus says we, my father and I, will come to him and make our abode with him. That's a breathtaking statement. An amazing revelation. That God the Father and God the Son want to come and make their dwelling with us. They want to make us their personal abode. But how does it come about? Through the word. If we are not lovers of the word, if we're not obedient to the word, God will not make his dwelling place with us. And so let me say this as I close this morning. And it's very solemn thought. You don't love God more than you love his word. So if you want to know how much you really love God. How much place God has in your life. You can find out. It's not something you need to speculate about. You just ask yourself, how much do I love the Bible? How much place does the Bible have in my life? Because that's as much as I love God. And that's as much place as I give to God in my life. Let me just summarize those five statements about the Bible. Because they're crucial. See so many Christians are in a kind of twilight zone. They don't really know what is light and what is darkness. They wish and they hope. But they're not really sure. And the reason is they haven't given the word of God its rightful place in their lives. So let me make these five statements and then close. First of all, keeping God's word distinguishes true disciples from the world. Second, keeping God's word is the supreme test of the disciples love for God. Love is our motivation for obedience, not fear. Third, keeping God's word is the supreme cause of God's love for the disciples. God loves disciples in a special way. He loves the whole world and he has a special love for disciples. But those whom he loves as disciples are those who keep God's word. If you want to be specially dear to God, then you have to keep his word. Fourth, through God's word kept and obeyed, Christ manifests himself to us. The question was how will you manifest yourself to us and not to the world. Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my word. That's how I will manifest myself. And finally, through God's word the Father and the Son will come together to indwell us. Isn't that an amazing thought? It just takes my breath away. God the Father, God the Son, want to make their dwelling with us. But they'll only do it as we keep God's word. Let me close by praying for all of us. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word, the word of God, the Bible. This sure authoritative infallible word which is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. And I want to pray Lord for everybody gathered here and everybody who ultimately is confronted by this message in any way. That you will cause us to be lovers of your word. That you by your grace enable us to give your word, the Bible, its rightful place in our lives. That we may be truly disciples of the Lord Jesus. In his name I pray. Amen.