Beloved, Oh Beloved, Is your house built on rock or on sand.

From the scripture in Matthew 7 that was read, I’d like to use for a thought, which was made famous by the Prudential Life Insurance Company.  “Having a piece of the Rock”.

        My brothers and sisters, one of the demands of this Christian journey is that we hear and obey the word of God.  What God demands is that we hear him, and that we hear him.

        That’s why throughout the bible you hear the statement, he that has an ear, let him hear.  Not talking about hearing audibly, he’s talking about hearing in terms of conformity. (Obedience)

God is not handling out suggestions, he handing out commands.

He not giving advise, he giving dictates.

Because he only runs his show on his terms.

        In Matthew Chapter 7, look at verse 22 with me as we set the tone.  He says in that day, that is in eternities future many are gonna to come to God and know how to address him, Lord, Lord.    And talk about what they did for him, didn’t we cast out demons in your name, and perform miracles in your name, but many folk are going to get the shock of a lifetime.  God’s gonna say you know, but I don’t know you.

        They are going to think that everything is okay, only to come to a climatic disappointment.  But that’s not only true of non-Christians, that’s also true of Christians.

        I Cor. Chapter 3, you can turn there at a later time says that many Christians when they meet the Lord will have all the things that they did burnt up.  They will be worth wood, hay and stumble, not gold, silver, and precious stones and will be just save as so by fire, which means they will just get in by the skin of their teeth.  They will be saved, but their will be no reward.

        So, non-believers many of them will be shocked to find out they will not be allowed into heaven, and many believers will be shocked that God did not consider any of their activities worth much eternal value or reward.

        Now Why will these two shocking events occur?  Because many people are a lot more attune to listening to God with their ears, but not listening to God with their lives.  And hearing the word audibly, and not executing the word physiologically is not enough.  And that’s what this story is all about.

Verse 24 says “Therefore whosoever heareth these saysings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.”

Now compare that to verse 26.  “And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.”

Jesus comes with an illustration of what it means to hear and obey the word of God.

He says that there are two men, both men are in the house construction business, both men want to build themselves a home and one man listens to his words and acts on them and he is call a wise man.  Another man, listens to his word and does not act on them and he’s call a foolish man.  So we are dealing with a contrast between wisdom and foolishness, the wise man and the fool.

Point #1  -  Having a piece of the rock goes beyond just spiritual words.

        What God is after is not just either our hearing or our repeating what he says, (Words are not enough).  Hearing about God, giving a response to what you haer about God, Amening the sermon, nodding you head is wonderful, but it doesn’t mean much to God, we’ve only gone half way.  Hearing the word of God, as important as it is, and it is, is not enough to see God do a great work in your life.

        In this story, both men are building a house.  Now Jesus says, I’m the architect, I gave them the words about building the house, one man heard my words, but did not use my plans, another man heard my words and used my plans, and they ended up in two different situations.

        Now, when Jesus says they built a house, since he’s the architect, he’s not obviously talking about a literal building, he’s talking about them building the house of their lives.

        The house is an analogy to your life, Jesus is an analogy to an architect who gives plans out to a person getting ready to build the building so that the building is built according to prescribed guidelines.

        Every one of us are building our lives by some sort of plans.  We’re either using God’s architectural plans, or somebody’s else’s, maybe our own.  But everybody builds his or her life off of some plans.

        What Jesus is saying is that simply acknowledging God, simply reading your bible, simply hearing from the preacher, simply listening to Christian radio, simply acknowledging spiritual truths, will not be enough to build you a solid house.

        This point is also made in James Chapter 1 about hearing not being enough.  Starting with verse 22 he says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in the glass.  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Let’s bring these verses a little closer to home.

        All of us this morning went before a mirror, what James is saying is that hearing the word is like looking in a mirror, but once you leave the mirror the great danger is that you do not check to see that what you saw in the mirror is being followed through wherever you go.

         Which is why women need plenty of mirrors, because there is a perpetual checking to make sure there stuff is in line. 

Women will make anything into a mirror, and everything that is a mirror is used.                         

You move from the bathroom mirror, to the mirror on your way out of the house, to the mirror in the car under the visor, to the mirror in the ladies room where you are going to, to some tin that gives a reflection and can work as a mirror.

        So what James is saying is that to be a disciple is to not only hear the word, get that initial look into the mirror, but it is to constantly observed to make sure you are following through on what you first saw.

        Now Ezekiel also ran into this.  In Ezekiel 33 God was judging Israel because of their disobedience.  And then he comes to verse 31 and this is what he says.  He said “Ezekiel, they come to hear you speak because your voice is the voice of one who sings a song, in other words you can tell it sweet, they love to come hear you preach, but after the sermon was over, their hearts were far from me.”  What he saying is that they like to hear it, even though they wouldn’t do anything with it, and therefore I’m going to judge them.

No matter how much we go to church

No matter how many bible studies we’re in

No matter how many sermons we listen too

If it does not work itself out to application, what we just heard became a waste of time for us, and maybe a basis of judgment to us.  Because what God want is His word to be obeyed.

Having a piece of the Rock goes beyond just spiritual words.

Both men heard, but only one man benefited, as we shall see.

        Secondly, having a piece of the rock involves the application of God’s Word.

One man took God’s architectural plan and built his house on a rock.  The other man took God’s plans and built his house on sand.  Now the whole story hinges on the foundation.

        Many of us hear want to build big lives.  We want big successes.  We want big successes in business.  We want big successes in our family.  We want big successes in our finances, and in our mental ability to cope.  Big successes can only be built on sure foundation.  The contrast in this lesson is a contrast of foundations.

        Most of us when we first went out to purchase our first home, did not walk right up on the home and said.

Look at the foundation on that home!!!

Look at how they laid the bricks and mortar.

Look at how they sharpened the corners on this foundation.

I’m going to buy this house because of the foundation.

No, what we did was went into the house and said look at that fireplace, and look, it has beamed ceilings and cathedral ceilings, and it has an open floor plan, and look it has 3 & 4 bedrooms, and 2 and a half baths, and a Jacuzzi tub and his and her sinks. (Pause)

But none of those things matter if the foundation is not right.

I remember a story told about a man who had a crack in one of his second story bedrooms.  He was only in the house about 3 years, so what said is I think I’ll call the contractor.  So he calls the contractor and the contractor looks at the crack in the bedroom and said well, let me take a look underneath your house.  So he goes to look underneath the house, and he comes back and tells the man.

        Sir, problem is not that crack, that crack is just a symptom of the problem.  Your problem is your foundation.  Now I can fix that crack with a little plaster for about $200.00 or I can fix the foundation for $2000.00.  Now the man is so angry because he’s only been in the house 3 years, so he says just fix the crack with a little plaster.

        And you know that’s what many of us are during with our lives.  We’re fixing the crack with a little plaster when the problem is with the foundation.

Just when we think we have overcome depression, we’re right back in the bottom of the barrel again.

Just when we think we’re solved our marital problems we’re in debt again.

Just when we think we’re gotten in control of our finances, we’re in debt again.

Just when we think we have our kids under control, their telling us what their going to do, or not going to do again.

We keep trying to fix the crack with a little plaster when the problem is with the foundation.  And we keep fixing and fixing, and patching and patching.

And no matter how much house fixing we do, until we solve the foundation problem, we’ll be nickel and dimming it for the rest of our lives.

     We’re got to solve the foundation problem, and we solve the foundation problem by hearing and obeying the Word of God. (Give Golf Example)

I remember when I first started learning to play golf, I was hitting the ball everywhere.

In the water, In the trees, on somebody’s else’s driving lane.  I lived in the sand traps.

Golf can only be enjoyed (and I’m a witness) when playing within the boundaries.  It is very frustrating when playing outside the boundaries.

     100,000 people don’t go to the Master’s Golf Tournament in Augusta to watch the pros play outside the boundaries.  The thing that draws people to the Master’s is the ability of the pros to keep the ball within the boundaries.

     What many people want to do is live their lives outside of biblical boundaries, and want to know why they’re so frustrated with life.  They keep hitting the ball in the water, in the trees, in the sand traps, on someone else’s course.  You can only get frustrated when playing outside the boundaries.

     God says if you hear my words and obey my words, I’ll keep you playing the ball of life in the baseline, which will make the game interesting.  But the moment we use our own standard, our own criteria, our own will, our own objectives, then we live with the frustration of running after the ball.

     And that is what many Christian do, what many Christians do is give a nod to God on Sunday, but then play their own golf game with the ball going every which a way, but then they say their frustrated with playing the game, when they won’t play by God’s rules.  God has his own rules for life.  He created life, he gives life, he constructed life, he wants to dictate life, and only by playing by his rules can we live life the way it was meant to be lived.

     And finally, Having a piece of the rock results in the stabilization of one’s life.

Verse 25, “And the rain descended, and the flood came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a Rock.

And let us compare that to verse 27, “And the rain descended, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it”.

Now notice that this passage didn’t say, if it rains, it says “And” the rains came.

I got some news for you church, it’s gonna rain.

No matter how solid we look right now, it’s gonna rain

No matter how stable we look, it’s gonna rain

Now there is only one time when you can find out rather you’re built on sand or rock, and that is when it rains.

And it’s going to rain.

It may rain bad health, or it may rain rebellious children, or it may rain serious marital strain, or it may rain depression, or it may rain financial debt and difficulty or it may rain bad situations or loss of job or income, or it may rain loss of a love one.

But it’s going to rain

Now some may say, I’m been going for years and years, and it hadn’t rain yet.

Keep living, it’s going to rain.

     Some houses can handle a few sprinkles or a quick shower, but that is not what we are talking about here.  We are talking about a flood!! (Hurricane Hugo)

     Now let me tell you a little secret.  Don’t tell anybody I told you this, this just betweeth you and me.  “When its raining you can’t pour a foundation”.  Did you hear me?  You can’t pour a foundation in the rain.  Do you know what happens when the construction crew is out to lay a foundation and it starts raining?

They go home!!!

You know why, because you can’t pour a foundation when it’s raining.  The rain does not allow the concrete to coagulate to such a point where it can harden and become a firm foundation.

     And what many Christians attempt to do, when it starts pouring, they say God ‘Give me some rock for this foundation” and God says its raining.

     What we want to do is use God to come in and strengthen the foundation when its pouring down, it’s to late then.  We’re got to create our foundation when the sun is shining, when its hot outside, when the sun can bake that cement and harden that cement, and make it a firm foundation, that’s when you build the foundation, and many of us are waiting until it rains to build the foundation, and when we get ready to build the foundation, the house will be washing downstream.

    Oh, but for those who have been building upon a rock:

Those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Those who have built a relationship with him.

Those who have been building their foundation when it’s hot outside.

Verse 27 “And the rain descended, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it”          

In 1 Cor. 3:10-11, Paul says,

¹⁰ According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to say to Timothy in 2^nd Timothy 2:19

¹⁹ Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

That’s why I can say

My hope is built on nothing lest

Than Jesus blood and righteousness

I dare not trust in the sweetest frame

But Holy leaning on Jesus name

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand.