One way in which we might summarize verses 24 to 27 is that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who hear and receive Christ’s words, and then there are those who hear and reject. But if you stop and think about it, there is a third, which is not addressed at this point. There are those who, for whatever reason, never hear at all, and who don’t have the same opportunity to receive or reject the message of Christ.. Sermons could – and should be – preached about this third group. And you and I should come under conviction as that message is declared. “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Why is it that we get very, very excited or concerned about some Bible things, but not others? As important as this point might be, and as important as those people in the third group might be, the Lord only had two people in mind on this occasion. And there were members of both groups in front of Him on that hillside as He preached. And in that light the Lord Jesus gives us a wonderful illustrative story.
Let’s begin by considering THE BUILDERS in this story.
These builders and their houses, of course, are part of an allegory or a parable. An allegory is a story in which the characters and events represent other things and symbolically express a deeper, often spiritual or moral meaning. One of the rules of Bible interpretation reminds us not to push parables or allegories too hard. They are only illustrations and therefore can not perfectly represent the object or lesson in mind. The Lord also sometimes used “similes” when He said something like, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…” He could have made this allegory into a simile, but He didn’t.
Christ Jesus was teaching that each of our lives are like the building of an house. Rather than thinking of the average modern house, let’s think of a log cabin or a sod or brick house. I have a sister and brother-in-law who are building their retirement home, and they have been for years. It will be a beautiful, large, log cabin, high in the front range of the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver. They have been working on it for years, going step by step by step. Hopefully it will be finished – or nearly finished – by the time that David retires. In some limited ways, the Campbells have already been living in their dream home for a few years. That is, they drive up very often, and spend the night in the buildings which they have already begun. That is somewhat like the point that Christ is making here. As we go through our lives we lay log upon log or brick upon brick until our house is finished, but we are living in what we have already begun. When it is time for us to “retire” – that is to leave this life – we will be required to live in what we have built. (Remember that this is an allegory – be careful how far you push it.)
Believing as I do in the omniscience of Christ, I think that He chose the word “house” on purpose. The Greek word speaks of a residence, not a business – not an office, a factory or a store. We live in this house; it is not a place where we visit once in a while, or work in only eight hours a day.
Now, if my wife asked me to build a log house up on the slopes of one of our neighboring hills, it would be a huge mistake. I don’t know the first thing about building with logs – despite my experience with a Lincoln Log set as a kid. I don’t have the knowledge, or the equipment, to put a real log house together. And in that sense it would be foolish for me to try. My brother-in-law is a capable and wise man when it comes to building with logs, but I would be a fool. And there are two kinds of people building the 7.05 billion log houses – lives – which are in the world at this moment. There are many fools and there are a few wise. But the difference between the two are not in their educations or their building experience.
The difference between a fool and a wise man in this case, is THE KIND OF FOUNDATION that they use.
Remember that the building process is an illustration or allegory of the basis of their lives and the way that they live their lives. The fool puts his house on whatever philosophy, religion, educational system or political party he chooses. The wise man builds only upon the foundation of what he hears the Lord Jesus Christ to say. The two houses may look exactly the same to the passerby, but underneath and holding each of them up is their own particular foundation. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.”
At this point we must be very, very careful. I have been told by several people that they didn’t care for any part of the Bible except the Sermon on the Mount. I have met people who said that they were interested in nothing else but the Beatitudes. And those people might have argued that when Jesus referred to “these sayings of mine” that Christ was implying that these three chapters in Matthew are the road and means to salvation. If I am a peace-maker, according to Matthew 5:9, I will enter Heaven when I die. Some policemen might think that they are Heaven-bound because they merely are peace officers. Because my yea has always been yea, my honesty makes me a naturalized citizen of God’s Kingdom. If I turn the other cheek rather than taking my revenge I have earned the grace of God. If I give my alms in secret, and fast in secret, it means at the very least that I am a secret disciple. I don’t judge others, I don’t lust in my heart, I forgive my debtors. Just like the man in Matthew 19 – “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” Was there still something lacking? Yes there was.
As important and perfect as are all the things which Christ has taught us on the sermon on the mount, they did not combine to become a gospel message. It did not directly expose the depravity of the people in that congregation, although it did indirectly. It didn’t directly deal with their helplessness and their need of a Saviour. In this message Christ didn’t declare “come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is no demand for repentance and faith in Christ. It was elsewhere the Lord said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” That is the kind of message by which we are saved – delivered from our sins. Furthermore, elsewhere He describes more clearly the foundation about which He was speaking. He said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” The foundation upon which we must build our houses is Christ – and it is the wise man who does so.
What is the difference between sand and one big solid rock? I know that there are other variations, but essentially we are talking only about size. Sand can be made out of many materials, but a great deal of sand is nothing but miniature rock. I won’t quarrel with the man who extols all of the things here in the Sermon on the Mount. Each and every one of these things comes from the Saviour – you might say that they are mini-rocks. But no matter how many of those mini-rocks you bring together, and no matter how hard you work to unite them in one pail or bucket, they are only sand. The other day someone sent me some interesting pictures. One of them was of a nice expressway – a very modern, multi-lane highway. But the Lord had sent enough rain to wash a huge hillside crashing down onto and then through that ultra-modern, highly engineered roadway. The foundation was washed out from under it, and there was nothing left of it for half a mile or so.
The word that Jesus used for “rock” was the common “petra” (pet’-ra) in contrast to a couple of other words. “Petra” doesn’t mean a stone or even a boulder; it refers to a large, massive immovable mass of granite or marble – it doesn’t have to be an actual mountain, but it could be. The wise man doesn’t build his skyscraper on pebbles; he chooses bedrock, and he’ll dig or drill until he finds it, because his building depends upon it. Isaiah 28:16 is quoted by the Apostle Paul after a long discourse on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said – “As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock (petra) of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Christ is the rock – Christ is the foundation. Out of more than a dozen scriptures which I could use, listen to Matthew 16 – Christ was testing the knowledge and faith of his disciples when He asked “whom say ye that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter (which is another word for “stone), and upon this rock (petra – referring to Himself) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” In the same way that the foundation of our personal lives must be Christ the Rock, the foundation of the Lord’s church is that same Rock – Christ.
Make no mistake about it, the best rocky sand in the world – created by the Lord Himself – is not a good foundation for our lives – our eternity – our salvation from sin. Christ must be our foundation. And by the way, our choice of that rock as our foundation must be deliberate on our part. I see houses being built in Post Falls all the time, and I see that the builders make deliberate choices about the kind of foundation that they use. I am reasonably sure that they don’t draw straws – which foundation shall we use on this house? Straw, sand, full concrete basement, concrete slab, or two dozen old railroad ties? By the grace of God, the wise man chooses Christ as his foundation. A child may be raised in a Christian home and taught all the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. If that child begins to build his life on nothing but those smallish pieces of rock, his house will not stand. He must personally repent before God and put his life, his hope for eternity, his faith in Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. No one accidentally builds on the foundation of Christ.
There are two builders, two foundations, two buildings, and TWO STORMS.
I know that the Lord seems to suggest one storm. The words of verse 25 are almost identical to those of verse 27. I will come back to those in just a minute.
But may I suggest that our lives are constantly besieged by storms? There are the financial storms that rear up almost seasonally – some are hurricanes and tornados while others are severe thunderstorms, blizzards or just long periods of rain. We all experience storms in our personal health. There are family storms – where our children get into serious problems. There are church storms, employment storms, emotional storms, mental storms – all kinds of storms. Some of them huff and puff and try to blow our house down. Sadly, that is often, exactly what happens sometimes. But if we are anchored into the bedrock of the Jesus Christ, we have the means of resisting those storms.
Having said that, it doesn’t appear to me that this is the storm to which Jesus refers. I am going to interpret this part of the parable to be that storm which will fall on every human soul – the storm of God’s final judgment. It will be a storm specifically designed to test and prove the nature of the foundation. It will be an attack from every side. This storm will come down upon that house from above. It will come up to beat upon that foundation from below – it will be a flood. And the winds will beat upon it like an F4 tornado or a category 5 hurricane. There is only one kind life that can withstand the onslaught of the judgment of God – that which is built on Christ as Lord and Saviour. No human philosophy, no man-made religion, no PhD in education is a sufficient foundation to withstand the omniscient and omnipotent judgment of Jehovah.
Changing horses in the midst of the river for just a brief moment – Noah and his family are a reasonably good illustration of this judgment. Noah and his family were invited into the ark – a boat designed and ordained by God Himself. “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that little boat; but it sank not: for it was constructed upon the principles and plan of God.”
Now I’ll conclude with one more point.
There are two builders, two foundations, two buildings, two storms and there are TWO CONCLUSIONS.
That life and house which was built upon the Rock of Christ, withstood the onslaught of the storm. It was not built like the little piggies houses of wood, hay and stubble. It was of solid construction and set upon the foundation of Christ Himself.
But then there was the other house. It doesn’t matter how well-constructed it was It doesn’t matter what the building materials were, or how meticulous the builder was. It could have been built on or with the Laws of Moses – definitely not bad in themselves. It could have been built on all the moral principles which might be dug out of the writings of Paul or John. It could have been built on the things which Christ was telling His disciples about how they were to live their day to day lives. It was not the house which was in question, but rather the foundation upon which it was set.
If you are striving hard to clean all the old rot, mold and fungus out of your walls and ceiling, I commend you. “Go and sin no more!” But I have to ask if your life is founded on Christ? If you are still young and intending to build with only the finest religious materials, I urge you to think about what the Saviour and His apostles teach us. You must be born again or all your morality and clean living will be wasted. Are you merely trying to put new paint on rotted walls? Are you putting new glass in broken windows? Are you only putting pretty flowers in the beds out in front of your house? You need to be born again. You need a Saviour, which is Christ Jesus the Lord. You need to become firmly attacked to the essential foundation – Christ, the Saviour. Repent before God, throwing aside all your morality and self-righteousness. Trust and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for your salvation and your eternal life. If you are the fool in this illustration, find someone in this auditorium this morning and ask them what you must do to be saved.