You have your Bible, you can open the Matthew Chapter 7.
Matthew Chapter 7 will be in verses 24 through 27 today.
And in our passage, we're coming to the final paragraph of
Jesus's sermon on the mounts. So for the last couple of weeks,
and today included, Jesus has been pressing his hears toward a
decision. He's been pressing us as we've
been hearing these things, toward a decision.
He's not. He's not simply giving us
religious information. All right, The Sermon on the
Mount has not been a bunch of moral advice.
Jesus has been setting before us the way of the Kingdom.
In other words, if you are in Christ, if you're a believer in
Jesus, he is showing you how you were called to live and how are
you were called to respond to him in these last few passages
that we've looked at. So what's happening is as he's
bringing the sermon to the close, he's presenting a series
of contrasts, right? And they've been coupled
together in twos, right? There are two paths Christ has
shown US1 is the narrow way that leads to life, and then there's
the Broadway that leads to destruction, all right?
There's also 2 trees, right? There was a good tree that
produces good fruit or bears good fruits, and then there was
a diseased tree that bears bad fruits.
There are two ways to call on Christ.
This is what Dustin preached last week so faithfully for us.
There was one that was empty and it's merely verbal.
Lord, Lord, right? And then there was another, a
true faith that's marked by doing the Father's will, by
walking in accordance with all that he said and taught.
And, and so now in the text that we come to this morning, Jesus
is presenting us with one final contrast.
All right, one final set of two. All right, there are two
foundations. All right, Christ wants you to
see there are two foundations. There is a wise man who builds
his house on the rock, and there is a foolish man who builds his
house on the sand. Now what I want you to notice as
we go through this are a couple of things here. 1 is that both
men hear Christ's words. Not one of them gets to say,
well, I didn't hear what you said.
Now both men hear Christ's words.
Both men build a structure that they build a house, right?
Both men face the storm, the rains come, the winds beat on
the House. And yet only one of the houses
that has been built actually stands in the end, right?
So that's, it's kind of a warning for us right as we read.
I want you to listen carefully to what Christ is saying.
Jesus is showing us in the passage today that it's not
enough just to hear the words of Christ.
It's not enough to admire them or even to agree with them.
The question is, the question that Christ is pressing home is
whether you're going to build your life on His words or not.
All right, so if you're able, would you please stand to your
feet in honor of the reading of God's Word.
Matthew Chapter 7, verses 24 through 27.
Jesus is speaking, He says this. Everyone then who hears these
words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his
house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it
did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew
and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we think that
we can come before you with Bibles in hand, knowing that we
hold in our hand we hear the very words from your mouth being
spoken. Father, we thank you for these
words that we have from Christ today.
So we come to the close of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus
now presses on us a decision on which words will we build our
house? Which foundation will we choose?
And so, Father, I ask that you would help us as we hear this
word today. Help us not to think of all
those people over there, or all those out there, or this person
or that person. Father, help us first as we hear
this message, to examine our own hearts, our own lives, and to
see a Lord. On which foundation are we
trusting? Have we built our house on the
rock or have we built our house on sand?
And Lord, would you reveal that to us in your great mercy and
your kindness, and by your grace, would you call us to
repentance and faith today? Lord, we thank you for your
word. We thank you for the time we
have in it. Help us to have hearts that are
fertile soil today. It's in the name of Christ, I
pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Now, one of the strange things about house building or houses
all together is that you don't usually think about the
foundation when everything is calm, all right, when all is
going well, nobody walks into your home and says, wow, look at
this slab you have. All right, you'll hear that very
much. Nobody visits somebody's house
and says, brother, these footings you have, they are
wonderful, right? You just don't hear that very
often. You might notice the paints,
right? It's a great color.
You'll notice the the decor on the walls.
You might notice the floors. You might even take a look at
the furniture, the kitchen or the yard, right?
All those exterior things, those things that draw our attention.
But when the storm comes and it beats against the house, well,
the foundation of the house suddenly becomes very, very
important to the whole thing, right?
And that's what Jesus is pressing home here in the text.
He's saying the same is true for our lives.
The foundation matters a great deal.
And really what he's getting at is that it's possible to have a
life that looks stable. It's possible to have a life
that looks respectable, or that's built on morality, or
that's even religious and its appearance.
It's possible to hear the words of Jesus.
It's possible to know the language of Christianity.
It's possible to appear like the building is well put together.
But but when the storm comes right, what matters most is not
what the house looks like on the outside or from the streets.
It it matters what the house has been built on, right?
And that's where Jesus brings the sermon on the Mount to a
close here, right? He presses this question home.
And it's, it's really the question of what lies beneath
everything else. What foundation do you have?
What is your life built on right.
So the main point of the passage is this taking notes.
You can use your worship guide for this.
It's in there. Kingdom citizens stand firm
through life's storms by building their lives on the
words of Christ. Kingdom citizens stand firm
through life's storms by building their lives on the
words of Christ. Now He's going to show this.
Show us this with two builders, right?
We have the wise man who builds on Christ's words in verses 24
and 25, and then we have the foolish man who builds apart
from Christ's words in 26 and 27.
So let's begin here with the first builder #1 the wise man
builds on Christ's words, right? So Jesus begins this by saying,
everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will
be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been
founded on the rock. So he begins with the word
everyone, right? Jesus is bringing the entire
sermon, 5 through 7, right? Chapters 5 through 7.
He's bringing the whole thing to bear on every listener, right?
No one gets to step outside of this conclusion that he's
offering, right? No one can say, well, that
decision, that question, that analogy is for somebody else.
It's not for me. Now Jesus is speaking to
everyone who has heard him, and he's speaking to you and to me
today, right? And what does he say?
He says there is a kind of person who is wise.
And this kind of person who's wise, I want you to know, wisdom
in the Scripture is not merely intelligence, right?
Wisdom in Scripture is not only about the knowledge that you
have. It's not about what you know so
much. It's not just knowing facts.
It's not just being clever. It's not just being practical.
It's not just, hey, is your life successful or are you well
educated? That's not wisdom in the
Scriptures. Biblical wisdom, don't miss
this. Biblical wisdom is skillful,
living under the rule of God, right?
Biblical wisdom is knowing how to apply the knowledge of God,
and it's walking wisely. It's the skillful living that
comes under the rule of God. So it's the idea of hearing
God's truths, yes, but it also consists of the idea of fearing
God's name, trusting God's way, and ordering your life according
to his word, right? So it's not just what you know,
right? It's how you Orient your life
under His rule. So who is the wise man in the
passage? Well, Jesus tells us very
playfully, all right, it's everyone who then hears these
words of mine and does them all right.
It's the one who hears and does that.
That means the wise man is not wise because he heard the
sermon, right? Lots of people are standing
around and have heard the sermon.
Both men in the passage, the wise and the foolish man, hear
the sermon, right? The wise man is not wise because
he's exposed to the truth that that can be helpful.
But that's not where it rests, right?
The foolish man also was exposed to the truth that the wise man
is not wise because he can remember or he can quote certain
parts of it, or he admires the words like, hey, what?
All those things Jesus said, those, those were really good.
He said some really good things there.
No, it's not even that. They can go then and discuss
Jesus's words with some understanding.
The wise man is wise because he builds his life on the words of
Christ. Notice how Jesus frames this.
He says these words of mine right now that that ought to be
somewhat astonishing to us. All right.
Jesus is not in the Sermon on the Mount by saying whoever
builds or whoever hears the words of Moses, right, though he
has affirmed the law. He doesn't say whoever hears the
tradition of your religious leaders now, he's already
corrected those. He doesn't even say whoever
hears general, general religious wisdom today, though, He says,
whoever hears these words of mine right now, what Jesus is
doing here is placing his own words in the position of final
authority. All right, So we can't look at
Jesus's words and be like the world and say, well, he said
some really good things, or I like those things he said, but I
don't so much like those. No, Jesus has placed himself in
the place of final authority. He's revealing here that he is
the Son of God, right? This means this passage is not
merely about the importance of morality, right?
It's not merely about building your life on good values or
strong discipline or family principles or religious habits.
But Jesus is saying that the only stable foundation for human
life is his Word. That's it, right?
In other words, the words of Christ are the words of God.
All right. The Son speaks here with divine
authority. His words are not shifting sand.
They're not one opinion among a bunch of other opinions, but
they're not just helpful suggestions to consider when it
might be convenient for you. No, His.
His words are truth. His words are life, right?
His words reveal the Father. His words are exposing our
hearts, right? We we can all agree, if you've
been here through this series so far, that the Sermon on the
Mount has absolutely exposed our hearts, right?
His words have called us to repentance.
His words have taught us the way of the Kingdom and what it looks
like to live under His rule. It's very much in line with what
the psalmist says in Psalm 1/19. He says forever, O Lord, your
word is firmly fixed in the heavens, right?
That's rock like language, isn't it?
Forever, firmly fixed, right? God's word is fixed, it's
settled, right? It's unmoving, it's solid, it's
forever. The world changes, the opinions
change. Fads come and go, right?
Opinions will shift, cultures rise and they fall.
But our feelings, right? Our feelings can move all over
the place. Just depends on what you had for
breakfast some days, or what bad news you got, or what good news
you got. But God's Word, his promises,
his truths, they stand forever, right?
Psalm 119 also says the sum of your word is truth, and every
one of your righteous rules endures forever.
So, So when Jesus says the wise man builds on his words, right,
He means the wise man builds his life on what is eternally true.
But we need to be clear, I think, about what this means to
build on Christ's words. Jesus says the wise man hears,
and he does what else he does all right.
This is what it means to be the wise man.
This means that real hearing produces obedient faith, right?
Not perfect obedience. We're not looking for sinless
obedience. We're not looking for obedience
that earns salvation, right, But real living repentance,
submissive obedience. That's what real hearing
produces. This is exactly what James, the
little brother of Christ says. He says, but be doers of the
Word and not hearers only. Deceiving yourselves, right?
So James is warning us that it's possible to sit under the word
of Christ, to sit under the preached word week in and week
outs, to read the Word daily and still to deceive yourself.
It's possible to hear sermons, to read scriptures, to nod our
heads and say Amen and still not obey what God's word says,
right? It's it's possible to to mistake
exposure to truth for submission to truth.
All right, we should be careful about this.
And so that's why Jesus says the wise man does not merely listen,
he builds, right? He he takes the words of Christ
and he says, this is where my life must rest.
This is what I must trust in. This is what I must obey, right?
This is what I must. This is what must shape my
desires, my decisions, my relationships, my priorities, my
worship, my money, my marriage, my parenting, my speech, my
private life. The words of Christ must shape
me in every way. That's what it means to build on
the rock, right? Matthew Henry says this.
He says those build upon Christ who, having sincerely consented
to him as their Prince and Savior, or as their King and
Savior, make it their constant care to conform to all the rules
of his holy religion, right? In other words, what Matthew
Henry saying is building on Christ means receiving Christ
not only as your Savior, but as your King, right?
As your Lord. And then Jesus says the storm
comes, right? So he's talked about this wise
man who's built his house on the word of Christ.
He's built it on the rock, right?
How did he do that? He heard and obeyed.
And then the rain comes and the floods come.
The winds blow and they beat against the house.
I think this is important for you and I as Christians in a lot
of ways, but one of them is this Jesus does not say that the wise
man avoids the storm. All right, some of us get kind
of messed up in our minds and in our hearts and in the way we
pursue God or don't pursue God, or the way we get frustrated or,
or the way we get down or depressed or despair or
whatever, based solely upon the fact that storms are happening
in our lives and we just can't believe it.
I'm serving Christ, I'm living for Him.
I'm trying to order my life According to him or I'm not.
And storms are coming. What gives, right?
Well, building your life on Christ's words does not mean
that your life will be easy. I mean, just think about the 12
men who were responsible for carrying the gospel to the world
initially. One that we know of gets out of
life with an age-old kind of death and the rest are brutally
martyred, right? Christ himself brutally
murdered. Many Saints have gone before us,
brutally martyred, torn to bits by lions, burned at stakes.
Also they could preserve the word of Christ.
Also that they could teach it truthfully.
Also, that they could hand the gospel down to the next
generations to preserve it for people like you and I to sit in
churches where we're free to open up the scriptures and to
read. And you and I get messed up if
the rain interrupts our satellite TV watching for an
evening. All right.
We just think about how inconvenience, how small
inconvenience we can be, and we become frustrated.
What do you think we're going to do when persecution really
knocks or when grief really shows up at our front door?
So you have to ask the questions, Am I really building
my life on Christ? Am I really making decisions
that would honor the Lord Jesus, that would be good for my wife
and good for my children and good for, you know, the people
around me in my church and in my community?
Am I really building my life on Christ?
Or have I just, you know, syncretized some truths about
God with the way I really want to live?
And I've kind of built a God in my own image.
I've bent him to my will and to my desires, right?
Jesus is not saying your life is going to be easy.
He's not. Nothing about building your life
on Christ means that suffering is going to pass you by.
It doesn't mean that grief will never enter your home.
It doesn't mean that temptation will never beat against your
soul. It doesn't mean that your body
will never weaken right, That your plans will never collapse,
that your heart will never ache, or that your faith will never be
tested. You will face all of those
things as a Christian. Please hear that you will,
right? You don't get out of life having
not suffered. You don't get out of life having
not endured temptation. You don't get out of life having
not sinned against God and needing to repent.
It just doesn't happen, right? So you've got to ask yourself
today, am I building my life on the words of Christ, or if I
built a God in my own image who bends to my will and he makes
provisions for my flesh and he allows me to do what I want to
do day in and day out? That's not the God of the Bible,
right? So the rain falls on the wise
man's house also. It does.
The floods come against his house.
The winds beat on it. The difference is not that one
man has storms and the other doesn't.
That's not the difference in the in the passage today.
But that's not Christ does not want you to walk away from
hearing his words, thinking, if I obey Christ, it'll be rainbows
and sunshines forever. Oh, it's going to be hard days.
But the difference is that one man has a firm foundation and
the other doesn't, right? He has a foundation.
Jesus says it did not fall. His house didn't fall because it
had been founded on the rock. Now, that's the promise in the
passage. That's the part that ought to
make you kind of perk up and get excited about what the Lord is
telling you in the Scriptures today.
It's not that the house will never be hit.
It's that it'll never finally fall, right?
It's, it's the truths of Romans 831 through 39 being spoken in a
shorter form here, right? Either death, nor life, nor
angels, nor demons, nor powers above or powers below, either
persecution nor famine, like none of these things are going
to separate you from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus your
Lord. That's my summary.
OK? It says more than that.
I mean, think about the hope that Christ gives to you when he
says it was founded upon the rock and so it did not fall.
But that's great hope, right? He gives you a foundation here.
He gives you the kind of foundation that can withstand
the pressures of life. He is saying to us, When trials
come, my words hold true. When temptation comes, my word
holds. When grief comes, my word holds.
When death comes, my word holds. When final judgment comes, my
word holds. So the the life built on Christ.
It might tremble, it'll endure difficulties and trials, but it
will not finally collapse, right?
Remember when the storm comes, that unseen foundation, the
thing you never compliment in your brother's house, right?
That thing becomes the most important thing in your life.
And Jesus is saying your life is like this.
There are many visible things about your life that people
might admire from the outside, right?
They may admire your morality, your church attendance, your
family, your knowledge, your giftedness, your reputation,
your service, right? Your discipline.
They may admire all of those things.
And some of those things might be the fruit of a good tree,
right? We're not saying they don't
matter, but those are the kinds of things that can be seen from
the street, so to speak. And you have to ask what's on
the inside because that's what Jesus is doing here.
He's pressing just a bit deeper than the tree analogy, just a
bit deeper than the two ways analogy, right?
He's asking his listeners to consider this question.
What is underneath all of those things, right?
What am I founded on? What have I built my life on?
And the question is really coming to us this way from
Christ. Are you building your life on my
word and on me, or have you built it on something else?
And so I think we can apply this very, very plainly today.
First, you should not confuse hearing Christ's words with
building on Christ's words. We cannot confuse the two.
Many of us have heard a lot of God's word through our lives.
You've grown up in church. You've been taught the ways of
truth, so now you're being told by Christ you must consider your
foundation. Does my life reflect the kind of
house that's been built on the rock, or does it reflect sinking
sand? Pardon.
That's the most serious warning in this passage.
When you, you have to notice both men here, both men are
close enough to the truth and know what Jesus has said.
So the question can't be, have I heard?
No, the question becomes, have I obeyed?
Right you. You can say that Jesus is wise.
You can say he's good. You can say he's true.
You say all those nice things about Him and yet still refuse
to build your life on him. So we have to ask, where are the
words of Christ pressing on my life right now, right?
Where is He pressing against me today?
Where am I hearing, but I'm not doing, I'm not willing to obey.
Secondly, similar application, maybe just a little further down
the road here, you must bring every part of your life under
the authority of Christ's words. Not not just the outward parts,
not just the parts that need to look good for everyone else.
No, every part of your life, but especially those things that you
do in secrets. You need to bring those things
under the authority of Christ's words.
In this sermon from Matthew 5 to 7, right, Jesus has spoken about
anger. He has spoken about lust.
He's spoken about adultery and divorce, truthfulness,
retaliation, loving your enemies, giving, praying,
fasting, how we handle money, how we think about anxiety.
He's spoken about judging others.
He's spoken about how we talk to the Father and asking for
things. He's spoken about the narrow
gate. He's spoken about false prophets
and false professions. I mean, he, he has laid it out
for us. And so we should ask, when you
hear all of those things, you should ask, am I building my
relationship on my relationships in life on Christ words?
Am I building my marriage on Christ words?
Am I building my parenting on Christ words?
Am I building my private thoughts on Christ words?
Am I building my use of money on Christ words?
Am I building my response to anxiety and worry on Christ
words? Am I building my understanding
of salvation and sanctification on Christ's words?
But the wise man in the story does not pick just a room or two
and say, Jesus, you can have authority in those places.
Now the wise man says, I'm going to build my whole house on the
rock of Christ's words, meaning he's going to have authority
over the whole structure. 3rd application here, I think is
this. You need to take comfort.
Take comfort that Christ's words are strong enough to hold you.
Some of you feel the storm beating against your life right
now. The rain's falling, the floods
are coming, winds are blowing, beating against the house, and
you feel very weak. But I want you to know that the
strength of the house is not finally in the house itself, is
it? That's not what Jesus is
teaching here. The strength of the house is in
the foundation of the house. It's Christ in His word.
Psalm 19, the psalmist pleads with God and he says this.
He says uphold me. Uphold me according to your
promise that I may live. That's the Christians hope,
right? We're not upheld because you're
naturally strong. Maybe you are.
Maybe you don't get rocked around by life very often,
right? But it's not natural strength
that upholds you. You're upheld because Christ is
strong. We're not steady because our
faith never trembles. No, we're steady because His
word is firm beneath us. It's the foundation for us.
So I want you to take comfort that His words are strong enough
to hold you. And if you're going to believe
that, then my encouragement for you is build on Him.
Build on his word. Build on his character.
Build on all that He says He is and all that He's done for you.
How do we build? We obey.
We obey His word. Jesus says in John 15, If you
love me, you will obey my commandments.
We return to His word. There will be seasons where you
have walked away from God, where you've stopped obeying, you
stopped caring, you've been deceived.
And when those times come, you are called by God, by Christ
here. Return to His word.
Let His Word correct you. Let His Word comfort, Let His
Word bring exposure to you. Let it strengthen you right?
Let it lead you. Kingdom citizens will stand firm
through life storms by building their lives on the words of
Christ, a love in the passage. Jesus doesn't just stop with the
wise man, right? He also gives us a warning, a
very clear warning. There is another builder.
There is a builder who hears he he also builds.
He faces the storm, but his house doesn't stand.
Point #2 The foolish man builds apart from Christ's words.
Leo verses 26 and 27. And everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it
fell, and great was the fall of it.
You have to notice again how similar these men are at first.
Both here, both build, both appear to be doing something
constructive, both experience the same storm, and from the
outside their houses may have even looked very similar.
Charles Spurgeon said this of these two builders, he said the
one builder is wise, the other foolish.
The one is superficial, the other substantial.
The the one has pretend is pretentious and the other is
sincere. Now that's the same issue that
Jesus is pressing here, not merely what is visible above the
ground, but what is real beneath the surface.
He says one man is wise and the other is foolish.
Why? Well, not because one heard and
the other didn't, both here, right?
I've said it a lot because I think it's really important for
us to understand we can be raised up in this and yet still
be a foolish builder. The difference is 1 heard and
obeyed while the other heard and did not obey.
Then I'll be sobering for us. The foolish man is not
irreligious in the sense of never have, never having heard
the truth. He's not someone without
exposure to Christ's words. He's heard them.
He knows what Jesus has said. He's listened to the sermon.
He's been there for all of it. He does not build his life on
what he has heard. That's the difference.
And Jesus is calling that foolishness right in Scripture.
Foolishness. Foolishness is not merely a lack
of intelligence, right? The fool is not simply someone
who struggles to understand difficult things.
The fool is the fool is the one who rejects God's wisdom and
chooses his own way. Yet you see it in Proverbs, you
see it in the Psalms, you see it throughout the Scriptures, this
idea of a fool. And it's always the one who's
rejecting wisdom, doing things their own way.
But the fool, on the outside, he might appear smart, he he might
be successful, he might be gifted, and he might have some
good morals. He may even appear religious.
But if he hears the words of Christ and he refuses to obey
them, Jesus says he is building on the sand.
Now, sand can look fairly stable for a while, right?
It may seem firm enough on a calm day, right?
You could build on it, and you could even admire what you've
built. But sand cannot hold when the
floods come, right? And that's what makes the
warning so serious. Jesus does not say to us that
the foolish man failed to build. No, he built.
He built something that was probably respectable looking.
It was a house. He had a structure.
He he had something visible to show off to his neighbors.
But his foundation was flawed, right?
This is why we must not confuse visible religious activity with
true submission to Christ. A person can build a life on
outward morality, but it's on sand.
A person can build a life of church attendance on sand.
A person can build a life of ministry involvement on sand.
A person can build a life of Bible knowledge on sand.
A person can even say Lord, Lord and still be building on sand.
That was the passage last week. There will be people who say,
Lord, Lord, who did many mighty works, and yet Jesus will say to
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
lawlessness. The issue is not whether we can
point to something we've built. The issue is whether our lives
are founded on Christ himself and his words.
Right, the storm comes, right? The rain fell, the floods came,
the winds blew and beat against his house.
And by all appearances it's the very same kind of storm that
struck the wise man's house. But the same rainfalls, the same
floods rise, the same wind blows, but the outcome is
different this time. Jesus says, and it fell, and
great was the fall of it. This is so true, isn't it?
I don't have to get a show of hands, but you all know the
stories. Of men and women who had the
appearance of godliness, who lived the lives that maybe you
respected. Maybe they were a hero to you in
some sense. But then temptation comes, or
difficulties in life, trials, tribulations, whatever they may
be, those things come. And that person's structure
doesn't last. And it's a great fall.
It's not just a fall, it's a great fall.
It's very humbling when those things happen.
So the issue is not whether we can point to something we built.
That's what have we built our lives on.
Jesus warns here that that phrase great was the fall of it.
Jesus warns us that a life built apart from obedience to his
words will not stand. It may stand for a while.
It does make that clear. It may look sturdy and fair
weather. It might be impressive, and it
might even deceive the one who's taken residence in the house.
But when the storm of testing comes, when suffering exposes
his heart, when temptation reveals what he truly loves,
when death arrives at his doorstep, and especially when
final judgment comes, no foundation but Christ will
stand. Sometimes people hear things
like this from the pulpit or from God's Word, and they think,
man, that's really tough. How could Jesus be so hard?
Or how could the preacher be so mean?
I think that's the kind of thing people say when they feel
defensive. When the truth's landing, you
start to say, well, that's a little mean spirited or you
can't say those things. It's like, well, that's exactly
what Christ is saying. But Christ does not mean
spirited, is he? No, Christ is loving, He's kind,
and all that he does, Romans tells us it's the kindness of
God's God that leads us to repentance.
So when we hear words like this, when we see things like this, I
think it's important for us to feel the mercy behind the
warning. All right, If you as a father,
your child's about to run out into a busy St.
It's not an ugly thing to say. Hey, stop.
It would be an unloving thing to not say a word.
But you know that giving the warning and chasing after them
is the most loving thing you could do in a moment.
It's the most merciful thing you could do for them, right?
None of us as loving fathers would deny that.
That's exactly what Christ is doing here.
He's offering mercy here. He's not warning you because He
delights in the fall of the foolish.
Please understand that He warns us so that we will not fall, so
that we won't run out into the street.
He tells us the truth before the storm shows up.
You need to examine the foundation of your home before
the storm comes. He's showing us the danger while
there's still time to repent. And so He's exposing false
foundations here so that sinners may flee to the true foundation.
This is merciful. This is the language of mercy.
And so again, we we can apply this very plainly first
application. You must examine what you were
actually building your life on. Do not ask.
Do I hear Christ's words? Ask yourself, am I building my
life on Christ's words? Right When Christ speaks about
anger, you can ask yourself, do I repent of my anger?
What When Christ speaks about lust?
You can ask, do I make war against the lust of my flesh?
Do I go to battle against those things?
What when Christ speaks about loving your enemies?
You can ask yourself, do I obey this command?
I love my enemies? What when Christ speaks about
prayer? You can ask in what ways this
week or today have I sought the Father?
What when Christ speaks about money, you can ask yourself, do
I treasure heaven above worldly possessions?
Am IA good steward with the financial resources that God's
given to me? When Christ speaks about
anxiety, you can ask yourself, do I trust my Heavenly Father?
When Christ speaks about the narrow way versus the wide way,
the way of life versus the way of destruction, you can ask, do
I enter Have I entered the narrow way by faith?
When Christ speaks about false profession, false prophets,
false professors, you can ask yourself, do I examine my own
heart? Let's see.
The question is not whether Christ's words have passed
through your ears, Brothers and sisters, I'm sure that they have
that. The question is whether they
have become the foundation of your life.
That's a totally different question.
A second application. Do you build your hope on
religious appearance? The foolish man's house was
still a house, right? That's part of what makes the
illustration that Christ offers so impactful, to be honest.
Sand foundation lives are not always obviously wicked, right?
Sometimes they're respectable, they're moral, they're busy
religious lives. But if the foundation of that
house is self righteousness, then it's sand.
If the foundation is human approval, then it's sand.
If the foundation is family heritage and you're like, man,
we've been Christians in my family for generations.
Well then as you read the Old Testament and you see how the
generations that came after the faithful ones straight so
quickly, you should really ask yourself some questions.
It's not just about MyHeritage. Is Christ my own?
Do I know him? Does he know me?
Does he approve of my way? Would Psalm one call me a wise
man or would I be the foolish one?
In Psalm one, would I be the wicked one?
If the foundation in your life is church attendance, you're
like man, Every time you guys open the doors, every time a
home group's available, I'm in it.
I'm at Sunday school, I'm at worship, I'm at Home group.
I come to Sunday night services. I don't miss members meetings.
Praise God, we love you for that.
But if that's all your hope is in, that's a life of sand.
If your foundation is well, call.
I know the right answers, right? I can I can apply the gospel and
you know, real quick situations. I know the right things to say
and when to say them. I've got a lot of knowledge of
again, if that's what you're hoping in, then you're building
on sand. The question becomes, have you
bowed to the King? All right, Only Christ in his
words or the rock. And so the third application I
think that Christ is inviting here is this, Come to Christ
now, come to Christ today. That's the gracious invitation
beneath the warning. Jesus is not merely saying look
at the foolish man, but let's all look and point and laugh at
him. No, that's not what Christ is
saying at all. Christ is saying to everyone who
hears, examine your heart. Look at your own heart, your own
life. Do not be the foolish man.
He's let you know that the storm is coming, that's certain.
But the collapse of your life does not have to be inevitable,
right? The foolish man can become wise
today by hearing Christ's words, by repenting of his sin, by
turning in faith to the Lord, trusting Christ for his
forgiveness, trusting Christ and His work on the cross for your
salvation, building your life from this point forward on him.
The foolish man can become wise and so the encouragement from
Christ here is not to delay. Christ is not inviting you to
admire the rock from far away. He's not telling you, hey,
you've built on sand. You need to go do some work to
correct that and then you can come back to me and I'll help
you with the rock part. No, Christ is saying come today,
come now, completing for forgiveness from seeking
reconciliation with God and with those around you.
He's saying build on Him. And that's the warning.
If we build apart from Christ's words, then the fall is going to
be great. It's not going to be a small
fall. It's going to be ugly.
Christ is mercifully warning you this morning to turn from that
sand structure and to build on Him and His words.
Again, the storm may beat against the house, but those who
have built on the rock of Christ will not fall.
And so as Jesus brings the sermon to the close, he leaves
us with a picture that you can't miss, right?
There's two builders, there's two houses, there's two
foundations, there's one storm, and there's two outcomes.
The difference is not that one man heard Christ and the other
didn't. Both heard.
The difference is 1 heard and obeyed and the other heard and
disobeyed. He kept building apart from
Christ's words. So the question before you today
is simple. What are you building your life
on? Not, not merely what do you
claim, not merely what do you others see in you?
Not merely what religious words? Do you know what is underneath
your life today? Jesus, in the last few stanzas
here, right the last few paragraphs, has set before you
the narrow gate, the good tree, the true confession, and the
solid rock. He's calling us not merely to
admire the sermon, but to obey his words.
So let us not be the kind of people who are hearers, only
deceiving ourselves. Let us be those who hear the
words of Christ and we build our lives on Him because Kingdom
citizens will stand firm through life's storms by building their
lives on the words of Christ. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word.
I thank you for this warning today.
I ask Lord that you would use it to expose us so often.
We are like Adam and Eve, having sinned in the garden.
We recognize our sin, but rather than run to God, who can heal
us, who can save us, who can set us free, we run and we hide.
We put fig leaves together to make clothes for ourselves, to
cover up our sinfulness. And Father, I just ask that you
would graciously, mercifully expose us this morning, Lord,
that you would lead us to repentance by your kindness.
Lord, help us not to walk in pride.
Help us to be repentant, to be humble.
And Father, I pray for anyone here who doesn't know Christ is
Lord, who's never submitted themselves to him, who's never
believed in His death and resurrection for their own
salvation. God, would you graciously save
them today? Would you draw them to yourself
and let nothing hinder them from coming?
I'm going to give you a moment now there in your seat to seek
the Lord, to respond to His word, to examine your own heart,
your own life, and to see what foundation have you been
building on. If it's sand, brother, sister,
friend, I ask you to repent, to come to Christ.
And if you've been building on the rock faithfully, then praise
God for that. Thank Him for His kindness in
your life. Heavenly Father, we praise you
for the gift of Christ, for the salvation that you have brought
to us in Him. I thank you for the lives that
you've granted us, that you have raised us up from death and
given us life in Him. We ask that you would help us to
walk faithfully with Jesus, to be obedient to His Word, to
build our lives on it. Father, I, I do ask again for
anyone unsaved today that you would save their souls, that you
would lead them to repentance and faith, that you would grant
them mercy and grace today. But Lord, again, we thank you
for your word. We thank You for the way it
presses on us. It truly is living an active.
It's sharper than any double edged sword.
It pierces down to the joints and the marrow of our hearts and
lives and all of that because you love us greatly.
So Lord, help us to love you in return.
Help us to worship you and glorify your great name.
It's in the name of Christ, I ask.
Amen.