Two Houses in a Storm

[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and go to the Book of Matthew chapter seven. [00:00:04] We're going to finish up, Lord willing, going to finish up Matthew chapter 7 and finish up the sermon on the mount. [00:00:13] Quite a long sermon. We have spent a lot of time in Matthew 5, 6, 7. But man, has it not been absolutely just teeming with truth? [00:00:26] And the further we go into Matthew, there are several other discourses. The most notable one is in Matthew 24:5. It's called the Olivet discourse, which is a great deal of teaching. But a lot of the rest of Matthew is not as much teaching but a lot of activity. And so the messages are going to change a lot from direct teaching like we see here to to more events as we go into Matthew chapter 8. But let's finish up Matthew chapter 7 tonight. We'll read verses 24 down through the end of the chapter. The Bible says, therefore, 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 the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded 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. And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. [00:01:56] So the Lord, when he is teaching, there is a distinct difference between the going religion of his day and what he says, not only the way he teaches. [00:02:09] Notice in verse 28 they were astonished at his doctrine, that is what he's saying, the content. [00:02:15] But they were also astonished at the method, the tone, the manner in which he spoke. He spoke as if he really knew what he was saying was true. [00:02:26] And that was much different than the going religion of the day. [00:02:33] And so let's finish up. Let's pray and then we'll finish up. 24 to 27 our Lord, thank you again for your word. I pray, Lord, as we digging here to these several verses, Lord, please help us be our teacher. Help me, Lord, to say and put in my mouth the things I should say to help your people and help me to know exactly how to apply these things to life in a way that's helpful to your people. But either way, Lord, if I say the right thing or not, Lord, I know that you can use your word. And I pray that you would do it in our lives. Help us, Lord, each person, each member of this church, each person here to grow by your grace and to increase. And I pray for our church as well as a whole, that corporately we would also grow, not only spiritually, but we would grow numerically. We would have healthy, organic and good growth. [00:03:26] And so, Lord, we just look to you. We want to see your work prosper. And I pray that you would do it, Lord, through us, Lord, we yield ourselves to you. We give ourselves to you best we know how. [00:03:37] And so bless our service. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:42] Now, you'll notice from the very start that the first word in this final section of 24 to 27, in fact, you could actually read 21 down through 27 together. But there is a bit of difference between them, a little bit of a break in context, but not a total break, because they're connected with this coordinating conjunction called therefore. And it says, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine. And we can see that in 21 to 23, the question is a question between saying and doing with those who eventually stood before the Lord in judgment. But in 24 to 27, the difference is between hearing and doing. But you got to maintain, when you read verses 24 to 27, you have to maintain the continuity of the. Of the theme that the Lord is talking about. So we're essentially talking about the same basic idea, the same kind of running thread through the entire context, although you could look at 24 through 27 almost kind of independently and apply it to a number of things in life. And I want to do that a little bit. But its primary context is the Same as in 21 to 23, which is the issue of salvation, the issue of eternal life. [00:05:07] Am I God's child or am I not? [00:05:11] That's what's primarily in focus based upon the word therefore in verse number 24. Now, hold your place here, and I want to draw your attention to Luke chapter six, to the parallel passage. [00:05:24] We won't come back here, but I do want to read it, at least because it makes the direct connection between Matthew 7, what we saw this morning, and what we'll see tonight. Luke 20. I'm sorry, Luke 6:46. Luke 6:46. [00:05:43] The Bible says this, and why call ye me Lord? Lord. Now, you've heard that before, right? This double Lord spoken, just as we saw in Matthew 7 this morning. But here it is. The Lord uses it kind of a little bit differently. He says, why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say with that word Lord comes a. It's implied that if you're calling Jesus Lord, it is not just a matter of jargon, as we saw this morning, and not just a matter of words. But you mean what you say, you know, we would do well, would we not just as a tangent. We would do well to put away religious talk that we just say without the heartfelt meaning behind it, Right. Preachers are really good at that, aren't they, to use preacher jargon. And to be honest, I've never, for me personally, and I've heard people do it and they seem to do it so well. They seem to do it so well. Oh, Lord, bless you or praise God or, you know, they use these terminology and, you know, that's all fine and good, but I've never really been able to kind of do that as a, as an exercise or, you know, when somebody says, oh, pray for, you know, pray for so and so. And, you know, oh, yeah, yeah, we'll pray for her, we'll pray, we'll pray for Rebecca, we'll pray for, you know, Jim, we'll pray, we'll pray. Praying for you, praying for you. That kind of stuff, this religious jargon, you know, Jesus said every idle word that we speak, we're going to give an account for. So if we say those things, should we not do them and mean them, right? [00:07:26] And, you know, so if we say, well, praying for you, we better be doing it. If we say praise God, we better have a heart attached to those words saying praise God and feel what we say. And sometimes you got to praise God by faith. And I understand sometimes you don't feel it exactly right. But let not our words just be empty words talking to the preacher now. Let not the preacher's words just be empty words to sound whatever spiritual or, you know, preacher like or whatnot. [00:07:56] And this phrase, Lord, Lord, is no exception. If we call Jesus Lord, if we bow our head and say, dear Lord, think about what we're saying, Lord, you own me, you own everything. [00:08:11] I am yours, I am here to do what you want. That's what that means. [00:08:18] Is that not what Jesus is saying in Luke 6? Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. I wonder if there's going to come a day whenever the Lord looks at us and say, of course in his kind way, but in his inspecting way, Ben you said, praise the Lord, but you didn't really, you weren't really praising the Lord. You know, we don't need to. Ben wouldn't do that. But by the way, Ben came up with a really good idea for the church sign because I've been racking my brain and he came up with one that was right on the money. So stay tuned for that. [00:08:56] But here it is. [00:09:00] Here our Lord is saying, why do you say that? Remember that one time someone came up to Jesus, the rich young ruler came up to Jesus with one of those nice sounding religious words. Good Master, did Jesus just let that fall? [00:09:16] He said, why calls thou me good? And here, Lord, Lord, they come up to Jesus, say Lord. And it was like, why are you calling me Lord if you don't do what I tell you to do, how am I your Lord then? [00:09:29] Just, I think just a good point to remember not to be too, you know, picky. But anyhow, let's move on. Verse 47. [00:09:40] So the Lord says, lord Lord, why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. And that Lord Lord connects with what we saw this morning. But then he goes on immediately and he says, he gives the same parable. He says, whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which build an house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. So notice he's connecting the Lord, Lord, but you're not doing what I say to this parable that we're reading in Matthew 7. So that's why I say the context is connected. [00:10:41] And this is really as its most important application is talking about whether our house, that is our eternal life, our condition before God, our eternal state, destiny, however you want to put it, is founded upon something that is permanent, immovable, something that will stand the test. And you know, here's the thing. [00:11:08] The judgment of God is the ultimate test. [00:11:13] I mean, we can. Other people can inspect us and other people can ask questions, but nothing escapes, nothing escapes the all seeing and inquisitive eye of the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment. He knows every thought, he knows every Motive. And listen, that's why, I mean, when we're talking about the question of our eternal life, I mean, we are deluding ourselves if we think we're going to somehow skate by or slip through. [00:11:45] And so we come to the main, the main point here in Matthew 7, verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, here's what I want you to see. The basis of our life and faith, and certainly the basis of our hope for heaven, our eternal life, must be the word of God. [00:12:13] Not what a religion says about the Word of God, not our version of the Word of God, not a part of the word of God. But it must be founded upon the very words of Christ. That's what he's saying, these sayings of mine. That's the word of God, right? This Jesus speaking. [00:12:35] And so this is a call for us. First of all, when we saw this morning about examining ourselves. But by what standard? The standard by which we must examine ourselves to determine am I saved, Am I lost? Must be God's word and nothing else. Not the way we feel or any other basis. It must be, what does the Scripture say and where do I fit in? That it is true. It is right whosoever heareth these sayings of mine. But even beyond that question in our life, our life must, must, absolutely must be based upon the word of Christ. [00:13:17] In other words, we must be people who live by the Scripture. And that goes beyond knowing the Scripture. [00:13:26] That means that we must make conscious decisions based on upon the Scripture. [00:13:34] Are there not many people who know the Bible loosely? They know broadly what the Bible says and yet do not live in any way by it. [00:13:46] They live pragmatically. They live by what feels right. They live by what is easy. [00:13:54] And they do not actually. They know what the Bible says, and that's what we're describing here, but they do not live by it. It does not guide their decisions. It does not dictate. The word of Christ does not dictate what they do. [00:14:10] It does not dictate to them what they do. How can you say that you're doing what Jesus said in your life if that's not the case? [00:14:18] The standard, according to what the Lord says in here, in verse 24, the standard is the sayings, of course, Christ, his word, being a Bible Christian, I'm going to live by God's word. [00:14:36] And so he says in verse 25, he says, verse 24, he says, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain Descended and the floods came. The winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these saying and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. Here's what I want you to see. A couple things similar and a few things that are dissimilar in both these cases. [00:15:08] Both of these men who are the subject of his parable, built houses. And what is a house? A house, you know, if you think about it, a house represents kind of the whole of your life. Why do you say that? Because a house is where you live. [00:15:25] It is the one place on earth that is yours, right? [00:15:30] A house is where your private life is, right? Is it not? A house is where people go to visit you. A house is often where you transact business. Maybe not like your job, but you transact business of your life. A house is where your family is. [00:15:48] All the events of your life are centered around your address. You know that they're centered for me. 27 Upper Meadow Way for you, whatever your address is, most everything that is important to you is there, right? [00:16:04] So the house represents the whole, you might say the whole of your life. The private sanctuary of a person's life where all the events of his life happens and it includes his family. It is the center of all he is and all that he does. And so we can say this. Every man builds a house of some kind. That's why, you see, both the wise man in this case and the foolish man are both building houses. In other words, they're living their lives. And all that is within those walls, you know, metaphorically speaking, everything within those walls is his house. [00:16:40] And in both cases, these men represent someone who has heard the word of Christ. So you can see this is very similar to what we said this morning. They've heard the word of Christ. They were church going people. Because in both cases it says, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine. So they both have been exposed to the teachings of scripture. Perhaps they have both read the Bible themselves. They were not ignorant of of the Bible. You might say they were church going people. I mean, if you want to put it in practical terms, that's what they were. [00:17:12] And in this way, both of these men are the same, right? They're both building a house, they're both churchgoing types. They're both people who know the Bible, have heard the Bible, and they both have been at a place where at least they have heard the word taught. [00:17:32] And so in this way, you know, you might say, if you want to put it like this, I mean, you know, church member A and church member B, or churchgoer A and churchgoer B, by all outward appearances, both of these men heard the sayings of Christ. They're exposed to that environment. They know what that's like. And by all outward appearances, they're the same. [00:17:56] Right? The houses are the same. [00:18:01] There's no distinction between them. [00:18:06] And not only that, but consider the houses themselves. We see both men built houses, but look at the houses themselves. [00:18:13] When you think about these houses, forget about the foundation for a minute. Because once a house is done, I mean, is your house built on a slab or is your house built on a crawl space? [00:18:23] Once the house is built, I mean, obviously for technical people, John Paul. I mean, you know the difference by looking at. But. But looking at the house just by the road, if you're not paying attention, it's just. Just one house looks same as another. It could be on a crawl space, could be on a slab. You have no idea. You just. It's a house. So here's what I mean. Standing on ground level, both of these men's houses the same. [00:18:51] By appearances, they're the same. That's what I want you to see. The wise man, the foolish man, the same. The man who hears the word of God and does it, and the man who hears the word of God and does not do it. Superficially, on the outside, look the same. You see that? [00:19:17] Not only that, but both of these houses are basically in the same location because they experience what appears to be the same storm. [00:19:24] They're subject to the same storm. [00:19:28] Here's what I want you to see. The only difference between these two houses is something that you cannot see. [00:19:37] Got that? [00:19:39] The only apparent difference between these houses is something you cannot see. [00:19:45] You know, and in the religious world, if appearances are. If appearances are our only concern, the houses are identical. If the only thing that matters is the way that you and I look to others, then there's no difference between these two, you see? [00:20:08] But that's not all that matters. [00:20:12] The kind of siding or exterior, the kind of roof, the color of your paint, you know, all of that is just on the. Is just exterior things. But see, some people live and die by what people think of them. And that's it. [00:20:28] That's it. The most important thing to them is keeping up appearances and looking a certain way. And they spend very little time considering anything deeper than that. [00:20:40] Or they work at going as far as appearances is necessary to have the appearance, but no further in their spiritual life, in their seeking of God. In the case of a person that's not saved, as long as they look the part and other people think they're the part, they're happy. [00:21:06] That is, listen, not what I say, but what Jesus says. That's foolish. [00:21:11] That's foolish and it's dangerous. It's dangerous. [00:21:18] Think about the other parts of this chapter we've already seen that are related. [00:21:23] You know, two things that look the same but aren't. The wolf who looks like a sheep but he's not. Right. [00:21:33] We saw the this morning we saw a false professor of faith who looks like a believer but he's not. Who does the works of a believer, but he's not. [00:21:47] In other words, when you look at these two houses, they outwardly look the same. And if that's all you care about, then that's all you care about. [00:21:57] But scrutiny and consideration is required to see the difference. Because on the outside they look the same. [00:22:06] And what we also see with these two houses is that both houses are subjected to the same storm. [00:22:14] The wise man and the foolish man, the man who hears the word of God only and as well as the man who. Who hears and does the word of God. Both of them is subject to the same storm. So listen, just because we try to follow the Lord Jesus and try to actually act upon and do what he says does not mean we're going to escape the trial or the test. [00:22:37] Both of them are going to be affected by the storm. Now, when the storm's not there, like we have beautiful weather. Was it not beautiful weather this afternoon? Just perfect. When the weather is like this, the houses are identical. [00:22:56] They both appear to stand very strong. Both listen. Both. The religious person who is like Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 to 23. This religious person who hears the sayings of Christ and looks the part, but is not the real deal as well as the man who looks the part and is the real deal. Both of them in fair weather appear to be the same. [00:23:30] And during normal weather, even the man whose house is built upon the sand or the dirt, even that man has a sense of I'm good, there's no danger, secure. [00:23:45] Now consider the way the houses were built. [00:23:48] We saw it in Luke more clearly. Luke chapter six. I'll just say it like this. One house was built with difficulty, the other was built with ease. [00:23:59] When you look at Luke, the Bible says that the wise man dug deep in Luke 6:48 to lay a foundation. What he did in laying a foundation Upon a rock to build his house was much more difficult and it cost him a great deal more pain. But the other man didn't bother. [00:24:19] He just wanted to get it done. [00:24:22] He wasn't interested in doing the difficult part. He was concerned only with hastily putting up that which was pretty to look at with no concern for the foundation or the testing that might come. And you know what? His way was easier and his way was quicker. [00:24:39] And his way gave the quickest results to look nice, did it not? [00:24:44] Which one would take longer? [00:24:47] Digging down. How many of you have ever built a house right? It takes, you know, it's annoying because, you know, you get to build a house and go through all the process and the loan or whatever you got to do to secure the funding and they're like, alright, we're going to build our house. And like for three months you don't even see anything. It's just dirt. [00:25:05] Because why? Because you're digging down. [00:25:09] You got the, you know, and there's nothing satisfying. You can't see the structure of your house, the shape of it, the skeleton. You don't see anything that scratches, that itch, that something is being done. But actually something very important is being done. [00:25:24] So if you were to take these two men and you were to set them side by side, and you would say, all right, you're both going to build a house, right? Ready, set, go. Which one is going to have something to show first? [00:25:39] It's the guy who didn't build a foundation, because that's hard work, takes time. [00:25:45] You know what? He's concerned with appearances, looking the part, not with the real. [00:25:51] The real the foundation, not with that which is true and genuine. He just wants to look at the part. And so you know what? People are going to come by his house and they're going to say, oh man, man, your house is nice. And look how fast you had it built. It's so beautiful. And he's like, you know, his ego swells and he's happy because people think he's the greatest. And you look at this other and it's just a. It's just a lot of good old red Greenville dirt. [00:26:19] Just dirt. Hadn't even finished the foundation and the other guy's about done. [00:26:25] There's no praise in that. [00:26:27] But you know what? He did the hard work. [00:26:32] Listen, when you're talking about the context of this is your soul's salvation, first and foremost, you know, the Lord wants us to really consider whether you're on the road to heaven or on the road to hell. [00:26:49] You know what? When you deal with the conviction of your sin, when you deal with what God actually says about you, that's no fun. [00:26:57] The fear and the guilt, the humiliation that come. Listen, that is a part of salvation, as preachers used to say. You just don't come beboping, chewing your gum, coming down the aisle to get saved. That's not the way it works. [00:27:13] That's not the way it works. Not when you have the guilt of sin laying upon you, Right? [00:27:18] That's hard. That's no fun. And most of all, it's humiliating to come to Jesus and say, you're right. I've seen what the Bible says, Lord, you're right. And I'm just a guilty old wicked sinner. [00:27:33] But see, and then the other guy comes down the aisle and he's like, you know, he thinks he's a pretty good guy anyway, and he just, you know, and so he just says a little prayer or whatever and he goes away and they both got saved. [00:27:48] But one's going to stand at the judgment saying, lord, Lord. And the other one is already with Jesus. [00:27:54] You see, foundation matters. You know, Jesus said that. Counting the cost, right? [00:28:02] That's in the context of salvation. It's not that we're working to save ourselves, but we're really thinking it through. Through. What does this mean? Who am I? What am I? What's. You know, and weighing it all out. That's hard work. But listen, even in your life as a believer, you have to do the hard work, I have to do the hard work to find out what Jesus says. Because that's the basis, right? [00:28:28] And ensure that you do it and not take the easy way, the shortcut to actually do what Jesus said. [00:28:39] And that's the whole point of what Jesus is talking about. [00:28:53] Everything in our life, with everything in our life. Remember, that's the house. We must be willing to take pains to ensure that we have not only heard what the Lord says on the matter. It doesn't matter what the matter is, job, marriage, or any other matter. We must take pains to learn what Jesus says and then resolve to act upon it. [00:29:21] Even if it's difficult, we must ensure that we are doing what the Lord says on the matter, even if that is the more difficult choice. [00:29:32] And you know what? When you choose to do that, you know what you're doing. You're acting in faith. [00:29:39] You're acting in faith. In fact, our doing is the product of our faith. For we trust God that His way is better, even if his way is harder. [00:29:52] Take the time to build the house, the foundation on the house. [00:29:57] The next thing, we're almost finished. The next thing I want you to see is one house had its foundation upon the rock and the other had its foundation upon the sand. [00:30:07] When you consider these two houses, there is much about them that is the same. The primary distinction between them is something you cannot see. And that distinction is the foundation under the surface. Something that you and I can't perceive. This is the whole reason Jesus tells us this religion teaches. I just want you to understand this religion teaches us implicitly, subtly. It teaches us if someone looks the part, they are the part. And Jesus says, I know the truth of every person, and one day it's all going to be tried with a really big hurricane. [00:30:53] See, we look at each other, and I'm not, of course, I'm not trying to get anybody to doubt any other person's salvation. [00:31:00] But we look at each other, and as a natural person, we look at each other and we think, oh, yeah, if they look the part, they are the part. And we just leave it at that. What Jesus is saying, though, is that people that look and think they are the part are not the part. That is a thing that exists. [00:31:20] And for that reason, we must examine ourselves. [00:31:24] We must examine ourselves. It's not about you examining them. It's about you and me examining me. [00:31:33] That's the whole thing. [00:31:41] The rock and the sand are hidden under the. Under the base of the house. [00:31:45] They do not appear to the passerby. [00:31:49] You know what the difference, this one little difference between these two houses might not be evident for a very long time, but the difference is vital and the difference will be tried. And this goes for our soul salvation, that it's founded upon what the scripture says, not on what a religion has told us the scripture says. And that the world is full of that. [00:32:17] But even in your daily decisions of your life, what you do in your house, as it were, those decisions you make in your family, in your personal life, the decisions toward holiness, uprightness, the basis upon which you make your decisions being the word of God and obedience to it, doing what Jesus says, right, that all will be tested. Those will be brought to test, to a testing where to prove whether those things are sound or whether they're not. [00:32:54] So we know that these two houses, as much as they look alike, are not alike. [00:33:00] And so the storm comes. [00:33:06] One house stands, the other falls. [00:33:10] Because the foundation, in this case, I know, we run and we say, jesus is the rock. And in salvation, of course, Jesus is referred to as the foundation. [00:33:20] That's laid. But in the parable here, this foundation refers to someone who hears the word and does it. [00:33:29] And when that happens, that foundation is immobile. It doesn't move. [00:33:35] Whereas on the sand it moves. [00:33:38] Because the storm, the testing and the trial is going to affect the house with various kinds of trouble. It's mentioned here. Rains and floods and winds. Three different kinds of trouble that affect the house. And they affect the house differently. One affects it from. From the bottom, one affects it from the side, one affects it from the top, right? In other words, it's going to be tried. Your life and the basis of your life and mine is going to be tested. Your salvation and the basis of your salvation will be tested, right? Is your name written in the book of life? Right. That's what all that's about. [00:34:19] You see? [00:34:23] You know what this test might be a test of persecution. When the pressure of someone threatening you or loss because of your faith, perhaps, or maybe even as a believer, perhaps a test that is going to test whether you are serious in this decision that you've made because you're facing loss as a result of it. [00:34:50] What are you going to do when they say, no, you have to work. You have to work on Sundays from now on, right? What are you going to do when you get yourself in a place, for instance, in a place of debt and as a servant of debt, you are at a place where you feel obligated to obey and you sacrifice the things of the Lord in order to satisfy that. And we could go on and on and on the basis. That's why we live by the principles of Scripture. Because when a test comes and the pressure is put on, that is what is going to make you stay where you are and not lose your relationship with the Lord. [00:35:35] Not only persecution, but illness. [00:35:39] Being criticized. You know, some people, Lord help us, some people, they yield immediately upon being criticized. [00:35:48] Immediately they just melt because someone said something bad about them. [00:35:55] Financial hardship can be another big test. What about the destruction and the disillusion of a personal relationship with someone? [00:36:04] And you think about divorce. [00:36:07] Divorce will destroy a person, right? It is a test. I mean, divorce is a hurricane in somebody's life. It is an absolute hurricane in somebody's life. [00:36:19] Here's the thing, though. If your life is founded, your decisions are built and founded upon the Scripture. It does not mean your house will not take a beating, but it will stand. [00:36:31] It will stand when the storm is over and it will be over, your house will still be there. Your life will still be together, might need to be repaired. Maybe a little bit, but it will not be completely swept away. Your faith will not be destroyed. Your relationship to God will be intact. [00:36:54] And of course, you think of the most, the severest test of them all, which is the actual context, is the Day of Judgment. There's no test stronger than that. [00:37:08] And that's why we have to double check and make sure that our life is just exactly what God's word says. [00:37:16] Not just the appearance and the form, but the actual substance. [00:37:21] Lord, I want to do what you have said for me to do. [00:37:27] Let's pray together.