Building Our House on the Rock

October 18, 2019

Building Our House on the Rock

Matthew 7:15–29

Joy Blocker

Central Truth

What are you building your house on? Is your trust and hope in the Lord or in yourself and the world?

"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."

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I Never Knew You

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Build Your House on the Rock

24 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 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. 26 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. 27 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.”

The Authority of Jesus

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

If you've been around a church at all, you're probably familiar with these verses. Jesus uses this analogy to bring out His final point in His conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount.

What made the difference between one house left standing and another left broken and fallen into the sea? The quality of the materials used? The difference was what they were built upon. A house that has its foundation laid in the bedrock is able to stand firm against a raging storm. A house whose foundation is laid in the sand will fall in a storm when the water washes away the sand and crumbles the foundation.

It does not matter if you are talking about the foundation of a building or the foundation that you have built your life upon, the idea is the same. Your foundation—what you build upon—will determine the strength of the structure you build. It does not matter how much money is spent on materials, for a house built on sand is only as strong as that sand. It will collapse when put to the test.

Storms are at hand, my friends. They are inevitable. Sometimes they come with warnings, and other times they come in a flash. James 1:2 reminds us to "[c]ount it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds . . . ." These "trials" (aka storms) are part of life. They are coming, and we will continue to meet them on our journey.

The real question is, when these storms come and test our "houses" or lives, where will we find ourselves once the storms pass? Are we building our houses on the rock of Jesus or on something else that will only let us down and leave us scrambling for solid ground?

Jesus is our rock, our steady captain, our compass in the many storms of life that will come our way. Let's build our lives on Him and rejoice as He sustains us through the storms of life.

1. What or whom do you turn to in this life as you encounter trouble?

2. How can you begin to build your life "on the rock"?

3. What storms are hitting you today that you can release and allow the Lord to guide you through?