For our Scripture lesson tonight, I'd ask that you turn with me to Matthew 7. Matthew 7, as we read together verses 13 through the end of the chapter. The setting here is the last part of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. And we want to consider the section tonight, verses 24 through 27, which is that familiar story about the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. We begin reading together verse 13 of Matthew 7. Hear now the Word of God. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching because He taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, hearing the words of this text no doubt reminds many of us, especially the boys and girls of that familiar Sunday school song with that unforgettable tune. I thought about singing it for you, but I think it's probably best that I not. But you know the words. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the sand went smash. And now we know, don't we, that the moral of the story is to build your life on Jesus Christ. But at the outset, at the very beginning here, we need to be careful not to grab onto the wrong interpretation of what that means. Which says that if we build our lives on Jesus, then when the storms of life come, we will be safe and secure and everything will go good for us. We won't be negatively affected. In other words, the storms of life really won't bother us. But if we don't build our lives on Jesus, then when the storms of life come, we will be destroyed and everything will go bad for us. You know, kind of like that particular article of Murphy's Law, if something can go wrong, it will. But congregation, that's nothing more than a health and wealth gospel and it's a downright lie. We know, many of us, by experience, that the storms of life do have an effect on Christians who build their lives by the grace of God on Jesus Christ. Christians are sometimes affected by cancer. And heart disease and financial disaster and persecutions and marriage trouble and divorce and death. And on the other hand, some unbelievers, those who have no idea what it means that Jesus Christ is the solid rock, seem to have everything go right for them in this life. That was Asaph's complaint in Psalm 73. Read it tonight if you have an opportunity. He complains that the wicked seem to have everything go right for them. They are healthy, wealthy, and wise. They even curse God and they get by with it. But the fact is, if everything went all right for those who follow Jesus and everything went all wrong for those who don't, wouldn't everyone want to be a Christian? One would think so. But we know that the Bible paints a very different picture than this. And as God's people, we can confess with confidence that although God does not always deliver Christians from the storms of life, He always delivers His people through the storms of life. Consider the first couple of verses of Isaiah 43. But now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, not if, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze. Yet in this story of the wise man and the foolish man, as Jesus teaches us to build our lives on Him, He's making a contrast. But that contrast is not between earthly successful lives and earthly failed lives. It's not between expensive homes and broken down ghetto dwellings. The contrast that He makes is between safe lives and threatened lives. Christ's challenge here is not what we have made of life and how successful our house of life looks to the eyes of the world. Rather, His challenge is this. Does your life house have the proper foundation? Do you live safely? In His grace, our Lord teaches us in this story where to build, how to build, and what we are to build for. Beloved, this portion of the Word of God teaches us that the proper foundation distinguishes safety from destruction. We want to consider these four points tonight. First of all, the distinction between the builders. Secondly, the difference in the building manner. Third, the dramatic test against the buildings. And finally, the direct results on the buildings. Now, we need to understand that all people are builders. Everyone. Now, boys and girls, that doesn't mean that all people are involved in the construction business. For example, building houses or bridges or freeways or anything like that. Most of your parents have nothing to do with building physical things and using tools. But all people are builders in the sense that to live means to build. all people are building some sort of a life it's true that some are doing very little while others are doing a lot but all are builders every ambition a man cherishes every thought he conceives every word he speaks every action he performs is a building block in his life house Jesus speaks about two men in this story and these two men represent as he says in verses 24 and 26, those who hear His words. His words. He's referring to His entire Sermon on the Mount. All of His rich instruction about the inner character of the Christian as He brings out so beautifully in the Beatitudes, as well as the outer character that is to be demonstrated, which He points out throughout the sermon. Our Lord's words are His law and Gospel. Many people heard Christ's words from His own lips. The congregation on that mountain that day included His disciples. It included great multitudes which chapter 4, verse 25 tells us had gathered because of His healing fame which had spread throughout the land. And of course, we know that some of the multitudes claimed to be His disciples, but really were not because later on when Jesus did not turn out to be the kind of leader that they thought He was going to be, they turned their back on Him. They rejected Him, even to the point of down the road saying crucify Him. And the multitudes on that mountain that day included Pharisees. Jesus takes this garden of variety congregation, if you will, and divides them in two and makes it clear that there are only two kinds of people, as the Bible does so often. Only two kinds of people. And here He says there are two kinds of builders. He doesn't divide them according to race and color or ability or wealth or status in society or by any criteria that we might use, but He divides them according to what they do and what they don't do with what they have heard. Obedience or lack of obedience to the words of Christ determines what kind of builder one is. The one man in this text is called a wise man. Wisdom, we can say, is using knowledge rightly to achieve the proper goal or the proper end and to use the proper means in achieving that goal. This was a wise man. He has understanding. He is prudent. He is sensible in that he considers what is necessary for his well-being. He looks ahead and he thinks ahead to the future. And he not only hears the words of Jesus, but what does the text say? He puts them into practice. He does them. He acts upon them. He is obedient to the Word of God. James says in chapter 1, but be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. The wise man was one who not only hears the Word of God, but also obeys the Word of God. And we know that since, as Paul says, we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, that here Jesus is not talking about a works-righteousness situation. He's not talking about earning salvation, which is impossible. Yet He is talking about obedience which flows forth from a new heart, from a regenerated heart, from a converted heart that hates the sinful deeds of the flesh more and more and desires by the grace of God to perform the obedient deeds of God. Jesus is talking here about one who not only hears the Word of power, but is empowered by the Word through the Holy Spirit unto new obedience. The one who acts upon the words of Christ is the one who is not conformed to this world, but is transformed and is continually transformed by the renewing of his mind and therefore seeks to present his body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And beloved, we must also remember that since we're talking here about obedience, we're not talking about perfect obedience in this life. This life is a constant struggle between the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit, yet the wise man strives with God's law written, chiseled, inscribed upon his heart. He strives to follow the narrow path that Jesus Christ perfectly walked for him. By contrast, the other builder is foolish for the very opposite reason the first is considered to be wise. The foolish man hears the words of Christ, but does not put them into practice. Christ's words mean nothing to him. He is not obedient. The foolish man is unreflecting. He is unable to make correct decisions. He is weak in understanding and judgment. And it's clear that he does not obey because he does not have true understanding and knowledge of God. He hears the warning of Jesus about the importance of laying up treasures in heaven and not on earth. He hears about not being able to serve both God and money. He hears about the narrow gate that leads to life versus the broad gate that leads to destruction. He hears Jesus' words that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And that not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in heaven. The foolish man hears all of this, yet he rejects the Word of God and decides that his own way is best. Because as we considered briefly last week, he is the master of his own fate, the captain of his own soul. Beloved, we need to understand that this includes one who confesses God with his lips, but whose heart is far from Him. That's a foolish man. Does that describe you? Remember, Jesus did not say, He did not say that the wise man is one who simply hears and understands. Or hears and simply believes. Or hears and simply agrees with. But he hears and does. James says in chapter 2, You believe that there is one God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Beloved, to be sure, fools are those who openly reject Christ. But they are also those who hear and pretend to believe. Some even go through the motions. Physical membership in the church. Faithful worship attendants. Reading the Bible and praying. Yet in reality, again, their heart is far from Him. As we sit here together tonight with the Word of God open before each and every one of us, are you the kind who hears the Word of God and obeys that Word? Are you a wise man by the grace of God? Or are you here week after week out of custom or superstition hearing the Word of God, yet it has no effect on your life? Are you a fool? Internal obedience and external obedience to the Word of God distinguishes the wise builder from the foolish builder. And in this story, Jesus gives a compelling picture of this obedience or lack of obedience to His Word as we consider in the second place the difference in the building manner. And we know the story well. Jesus says the wise man built his house on the rock. And He says the foolish man built his house on sand. Luke gets even more specific in his Gospel writing when he says the wise man dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock. And the foolish man built a house upon the ground without any foundation. And we need to understand a little bit about that land over there. At that time, in that desert region, everybody built on the sand. That was the normal thing to do. We even use sand today because it's good for backfill. It's good for drainage. But you see, to go through all of the extra work digging down beneath the sand surface, even a couple of feet, digging down to the bedrock or to the hard pan, that was absurd. That was the abnormal thing to do. That would have been considered to be the foolish thing to do. The very opposite of what our Lord says. To dig down to the rock was to overdo it. After all, who needs to build a house here in the desert as if it has to hold up against an ocean? Yet the wise builder knew that even in that part of the world, when the periodic rains did come, They came fast and furious and for many days on end. And to dig down to the rock, congregation, was to build more safety into your house. But to build on the sand was to fail to reckon with the outside chance of a hurricane wind in combination with a flood. The foolish man failed to consider abnormal weather possibilities. He forgot that sand doesn't stand still. It constantly shifts in the wind. I trust it's clear to all of us that the comparison in this parable is that the words of Christ are the proper foundation. To act upon, to obey His Word is to build upon the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ Himself. But to ignore and reject His Word is to build with no foundation at all. As that familiar hymn says, all other ground is sinking sand. And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, there is no other foundation. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Congregation. Many, many people are building their lives not taking into consideration and not calculating the reality of a God, a just God, and the reality of a final judgment. They forget that the here and now will pass away, but the judgment of tomorrow is coming. Jesus is clear that our lives must be directed by the thought of that one threat which is moving towards all houses, all human life. There will be a dramatic test against the buildings. The rain came down. The streams rose. And the winds blew and beat against those houses. Jesus is not talking about the storms of life. He's not talking about financial disaster. He's not talking about sickness. He's not talking about mental problems or emotional problems or anything of that nature. That's clear from the context of this passage as he speaks again about the narrow way that leads to life versus the broad way that leads to destruction. As well, in verse 22, he says, many will say to me in that day, which refers to the day of judgment. And we also know that a flood is an image for God's judgment as in the days of Noah. God's judgment will come over all life without regard for anybody. All will be judged. No exceptions. Our Lord's warning here is about what many people actually do not expect and what they do not consider when building their life house. God's great judgment will one day come over the earth. And a house, a life house, regardless of how strongly built it may look, regardless of how good it may seem, will not stand up to God's judgment unless that risk, the risk of God's judgment against sin, has been calculated in advance with a calculation that can only and must only include Jesus Christ. The judgment of the Lord is coming. It cannot be prevented. It cannot be avoided. And like a flood, it will come with dramatic suddenness. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2 reminds us, For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. And God's judgment will be comprehensive. Just as the rains come down and beat on the roof and the wind blows against the walls and the flood tests the foundation, every human life will be relentlessly examined down to its very roots. And the examination of God's judgment will have direct results on the buildings. The wise man's house did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. The foolish man's house fell with a great crash. We need to understand, congregation, that the wisdom of the wise man and the foolishness of the foolish man will not truly be exposed until that day. Meaning the world will not understand it completely until that day. Remember, in Jesus' day, the one who dug down and built on the rock was considered foolish. Everybody built on the sand. It was quicker. It was more cost effective. It made sense. But today, Christianity and Christians are seen as foolish. They're seen as lunatics. They're seen as hypocrites in the eyes of the world. But the truth will be revealed on that day. But this means that the wisdom is not seen in the house itself. That doesn't mean that Christians are not to live differently than the world and to look different than the world. We are. But the world will not see the wisdom, does not see the wisdom, in your Christian life today. Two houses may look the same, Both might look sturdy and strong, but while one rests on a solid foundation, the other may have no foundation at all. The starting point makes all the difference. The rock saves the house. The rock gets the credit. The wise act of the builder is that he saw when he built what the rock would do for his house. The wise man shows by his obedience that by the power and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, He has taken the words of Christ to heart and He is building upon the rock and He will never be put to shame even in the day of judgment. It will be for Him a day of triumph. We sing that soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose. I will not, I will not desert to His foes. That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake. I'll never, no never, No, never forsake. The words, though all hell should endeavor to shake, remind me of something that is not really clear in our English translations. We read in our text that the rain and the wind and the flood beat against both houses. But in the Greek, two different verbs are used, both translated as beat against. And the word translated beat against, used in connection with the wise man, It means to fall upon quickly, to strike hard, to beat with a great force quickly and relentlessly. While the word translated the same way in connection with the foolish man's house means to stumble, to cause to stumble. The fierceness is removed. The point is that built upon the rock foundation, the worst possible storm will not even cause the wise man's house to shake. But the foolish man's house will fall over like a house of cards with the slightest touch. The proper foundation distinguishes safety from destruction. And I trust that I don't have to tell you that the Bible is filled with claims that Jesus Christ is the rock. Psalm 62 said, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. Congregation, each and every one of us is building our lives, young and old. Some are just beginning. Some are near the end. What are you building on? Do you see what Jesus Christ can do for you? You see, only resting upon Jesus Christ than when the very, very difficult storms of life come, can you stand firm? But if you're not built on Jesus Christ, the slightest problem can come along and you're going to be blown over like the wind. And on that day of judgment, when God comes to judge, when Christ comes to judge the living and the dead for sin, only those whose sins have been forgiven by Jesus Christ will stand firm. The wise man builds on the proper foundation which is the Word of Christ. And he builds by obedience to that Word. That Word shapes his life. It determines what he says and how he thinks and what he does. But the foolish man builds on the foundation of his own ideas, his own reasonings, his own arguments, or the arguments of others. And that's nothing more than the foundation of hell. In Matthew 7.15, Jesus speaks of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves. And today, congregation, there are many false prophets, or we could call them real estate agents, trying to sell you and me attractive sand sites. And on the surface, these sand sites really look good to some. But especially today, these real estate agents are trying to sell other foundations saying that Jesus Christ is not the only way to the Father as He Himself said. But beloved, without Christ, there is no foundation. Or part of their sales pitch includes that if you do this, that all you have to do is make sure that the good you do outweighs the bad that you do, then you'll be okay in the judgment. Or their advertising says, if you live according to a certain list of do's and don'ts, then you'll also be okay. And some people actually believe that as long as they have their name on the church's membership roster so that they can get married in the church and buried out of the church, their building is strong? Are you building your life house in preparation for the final judgment? Are you building safety into your house? By the grace of God, do you see what only Jesus Christ can do for you on the day of judgment? The rock that has already endured the judgment of God. No other foundation will do, beloved, for only this one, Even our Lord Jesus Christ is proven effective. The words of Jesus are plain. If you're not standing strong on the rock, even Him, you will fall. And tremendous will be the crash. You will, as some say, crash and burn. Total destruction. Total loss. But His Word is also clear. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Why does the house that has more safety built into it stand firm? Not because of the house of your obedience or the house of my obedience, but because the rock, the proper foundation, holds it and carries it. Obedience, beloved, is evidence of God's gracious hand reaching down, as David says in Psalm 40, bringing me up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and setting my feet upon the rock. Safety is found only on the proper foundation, Jesus Christ. Only faith in Him will bring you safely through the storms of this life. And only His saving sacrifice will support you on judgment day. Where are you building? Amen. Shall we pray? Father, it's by the gracious power and provision of Your Holy Spirit that we are built upon the solid rock foundation of Jesus Christ and that we have the knowledge that all other ground is sinking sand. Father, You are our mighty fortress and we praise You that You are the One who upholds Your church and keeps her safe forever and ever. May it always be our desire to be a steadfast part of that church, to be a rock securely planted, a building block securely laid in that building. Give us Your grace, we pray, and Your mercy and strength to build our lives more and more every day upon the Lord Jesus Christ. May we not be fooled by a false gospel, by a false message of salvation. But may we look only to Jesus Christ and to Him alone for our salvation. In His name we pray, Amen.