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38th Street Church of Christ 3904 38th Street NW Canton, Ohio 44718 330-492-5523 Fax: 330-493-7119 |
“The Rock of True Faith” |
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I. Introduction.
A. As wonderful as living in southern California might be,
there are certain drawbacks to be considered as well. It’s
an area prone to two natural disasters that frequently plague
its inhabitants. One is earthquakes, and the other rain,
which causes mudslides and often, destroys many
expensive houses. Both of these natural phenomena make
people think about the foundations upon which their houses
are built.1. The southern California climate is not unlike that of
Israel. It’s dry for the most part, but, when seasonal
rains do come, the land can absorb only so much
water.2. What may look like a great place to build a house,
on the side of a hill with an impressive view, or in
a dry valley surrounded by beautiful hills, can be
deadly when the winter rains come.B. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus gives us a picture of tranquility
turned dangerous, even deadly. These verses are a second
“closing statement” to His Sermon on the Mount. They
contrast a right response with a wrong response to the
invitation to salvation.1. Jesus describes two individuals who built houses,
apparently in the dry bed of a stream. One worked
diligently on his house, but gave no thought to a
solid foundation as he built. Jesus calls this man
foolish.2. The other man chose a different kind of location for
his house, a solid, stable rock. This man, Jesus
says, was wise.3. Here’s a widely-known story, a parable, that
presents us with a powerful commentary on the
nature of people, people with knowledge but empty
hearts and people with knowledge and obedient
hearts. Both verse 24 (“. . . whoever hears these
sayings of Mine . . .”) and verse 26 (“. . . everyone
who hears these sayings of Mine . . .”) refer to
people who hear Jesus’ message, listen to it, and
understand it. Both have knowledge. But only one
builds his “house,” his life, upon the rock of true
faith.C. Remember, this is the Judge of all humanity telling people
how they should build. Unless you build your life on the
foundation of righteousness (that word from last week’s
lesson), you are headed for eternal ruin.1. No matter how good a structure looks on the
outside, no matter what knowledge we have, no
matter how diligent people appear to be in their
spiritual activity, if the externals are all you have,
if there’s no depth to the foundation and little
commitment to righteousness, it will all be washed
away in a moment.2. Both builders represent individuals who probably
consider themselves children of God and disciples
of Jesus Christ. They read Scripture, attend
assemblies of the church, and work at forming some
kind of spiritual value system.3. Yet, one is constructing wisely, with the future in
mind, and the other builds foolishly, more
concerned with here than hereafter.D. Foundations don’t get as much consideration, because they
are not visible. Once the structure is completed, you don’t
see the foundation anymore. It becomes difficult to tell
which house is standing solidly and which is not. It
becomes evident only when, “. . . the rain [descends], the
floods [come], and the winds [blow], and beat on that
house; . . .” (Matthew 7:25; 27). Then you know which
house, which life, is constructed on the rock of true faith.II. Side By Side.
A. There are several interesting similarities between the two
builders in this story. First, both of their “houses”
represent spiritual structures, so both are living their lives
with a priority on spiritual activity.1. Second, they both built their houses close to one
another, in the same area, because it appears to be
the same storm that affected them. In life, believers
in the truth and those who do not accept the truth of
God’s word, or accept false teaching, live side-by-
side. The wise and the foolish are indistinguishable
from one another to most people.2. Third, the houses they built were also outwardly
similar. The only differences Jesus mentioned is
the foundation. That’s the real heart of the
difference between them, that invisible foundation.B. Jesus’ point was to get the proud Pharisees, and others, to
“come down” from the lofty place they imagined
themselves in, and to see the spiritual bankruptcy in their
lives. These men had no regard for the soul, for purity of
heart, for integrity of behavior, of obedience to God. They
were building their spiritual structure on sand. Oh, yes,
they prayed and gave, and did other things that gave the
appearance of righteousness, and of spiritual strength. But,
these were only outward expressions, to impress God and
other people. Their religion of rules and of show was built
upon sand, not the solid rock of true faith, and love.C. Today, many people say that they’ve built their “house”
upon that solid rock – upon Christ. Most commentators
will say that the “rock” in Matthew 7:25 stands for God, or
Christ. But, let’s take that analogy one step further. Jesus,
in telling the story, says “. . . whoever hears these sayings
of Mine, and does them, . . .” in verse 24. That makes the
“rock” the very word of God itself, which, when honestly
and sincerely applied, brings obedience and an end to self-
righteousness.1. Without question, God is a “rock.” The Psalms are
full of such references to Jehovah, the Father.2. And, without question, Christ, too, is a “rock”, the
“chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20; I Peter 2:7).3. But, what Jesus is really saying here is that His
word (which He speaks for God, the Father), is the
solid, rock, foundation for the church, and for the
believers in the truth.D. It reminds us of Jesus’ conversation with the apostles, in
Matthew 16 (read verses 13-17).1. Jesus distinguishes between what “. . . men say . . .”
and revealed to Peter by “. . . My Father who is in
heaven.” But, it is verse 18 that speaks directly to
what we are discussing today. (“And I also say to
you that you are Peter (“Petros”), and on this rock
(Petra”) I will build My church, . . .”).2. Simon had been designated as “Peter” by Jesus
(e.g. Mark 3:16), and that name meant “a boulder,
or large stone; a rock.” This kind of rock could be
more easily thrown, or moved. But, the “rock” upon
which Jesus said He’d build His church was a large
mass of rock, like a shelf or ledge. It was not easily
moved and was attached to the land around it.3. What is this bedrock of Christianity, of the church?
It is the solid foundation of Christ, as revealed by
the Father in His word. Peter’s confession:
“. . . ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God’ ” (verse 16), is the rock of true faith that must
be built upon by obedience.4. Paul says, in Acts 20:32: “So now, brethren, I
commend you to God and to the word of His grace,
which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” It
is the word of God that is our solid foundation, and
it is that same word that provides us with the
material to build on that foundation, so that we
might “. . . not fall” (Matthew 7:25).E. Jesus is saying that a person who lives a life in which he or
she only hears, and never does, is a life built on sand, the
sand of our will, or thoughts and opinions, our attitudes,
and our self-serving philosophy of right and wrong. We
listen, but ignore the signs of danger, spiritually, that can
cost us eternity. Of such a life, Jesus says: “. . . great was
its fall” (7:27).
F. It’s the wise individual who hears the word of God, and
then obeys so as to build a life upon that unshifting
foundation. (READ; John 8:30-32). These people heard,
they believed, then accepted, then obeyed. That’s building
wisely on the rock of true faith.III. Conclusion.
A. Earlier, we identified the similarities between the two
builders in Jesus’ story. But, what are the differences?1. One built the easy way, the other the harder way.
It’s easy to build on sand; just smooth out a spot
and start construction. Fools take the easy way
because, first, they are always in a hurry, looking
for quick results. There’s no time to consider what
is sin, building real conviction and commitment, or
coming to face the reality of our soul’s condition
before God. Fools also take the easy way because
they are superficial. They may believe in Christ,
but exhibit no evidence of this in their lives.2. While the foolish person is in a big hurry, the wise
individual takes time to get it right. In a parallel
passage to that in Matthew 7 (Luke 6:47-48), Jesus
adds the fact that the wise man “. . . dug deep . . .”
(Luke 6:48). He swept away the sand of opinion
and self-will and got down to the rock of God’s
word. You can’t dig deep if you’re in a hurry. It
takes time to dig deep. You think things through.
You count the cost.3. Those who dig deep give a maximum effort. You
can’t do that in a short time. We are tempted by the
easy way, but is that the lasting, dependable, eternal
way?4. And, the person who “digs deep” is teachable. The
Pharisees weren’t teachable; you couldn’t tell them
anything that conflicted with what they already
believed. The call for self-denial is rejected. The
pull to go their own way is strong, and when
someone does try to teach them the right way, they
don’t want to hear it.B. We may be respectful of Christ, fervent and active in
private devotion, busy with what we classify as spiritual
activity. In fact, our religious “house” may look like
others’. But, in judgment, that spiritual structure will be
devastated if it’s built on the sand of our own ways and
beliefs rather than the rock of obedience to God and His
word.C. When we willingly and wisely, submit to God, He takes
over and everything begins to unfold. The writer
C. S. Lewis illustrated this:When I was a child I often had a toothache, and I knew
that if I went to my mother she would give me something
which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get
some sleep. But I did not go to my mother – at least, not
till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go
was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin;
but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she
would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get
what I wanted out of her without getting something more,
which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain;
but I could not get it without having my teeth set
permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they
started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had
not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs
lie.D. God is like the dentist. If we give Him one problem to fix,
He’ll go ahead and fix everything. He warned people to
“count the cost” before becoming a Christian. The process
of change begins when we accept Christ as our Savior and
when we trust Him to take over our life.