Today, after more than 7 months of exhaustive study, we reach the conclusion of the first recorded sermon the Lord preached, known as the Sermon on the Mount. And in the last chapter of His sermon He has shown us that there are only two types of people, two ways in which to live, and two possible destinations or outcomes of their lives. He has shown us three illustrations of that principle, and now the one in today’s passage is another one, which is the third. In the first illustration, Jesus presented two ways, entered into by two gates, leading to two destinations. There was the narrow way, through the narrow gate, which led to life, which only a few found, and there was the broad way entered by the broad gate, which led to destruction, and many were on that path. Everyone is on either one of two paths of life, leading to only two destinations. One way leading to life and one leading to destruction.
In the second illustration Jesus pictures the life of a person as like either a good tree or a bad tree. The good tree produces good fruit, but the bad tree produces bad fruit. And He says the bad tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So, He says, you shall know them by their fruit. That is, the fruit of their lives indicates whether they are a good tree or a bad tree, resulting in either life or death.
In the third illustration which we are considering this morning, the Lord compares two men who are builders of houses. The wise man builds a house with a foundation upon a rock and the foolish man builds his house on the sand. And when the rain came, and the floods rose, and the winds blew, the house that was built upon a rock stood firm, but the house that was built upon the sand was destroyed.
Now as I said, this is the conclusion of Jesus’s sermon. He has been showing throughout this message that there is an important difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. We learned when we studied the Beatitudes that the characteristics of the man described was not natural. It was not normal. But rather the attitudes and nature of that man showed a supernatural character which indicated that there had been a fundamental change in him. And we deducted that this man had been born again into the kingdom of God. He had been changed from natural to spiritual as the result of a supernatural conversion. And in this new life, new nature, new character, he exhibited spiritual life which came from God.
Then as Jesus continues His sermon, He continues to show this difference between the two type of people, the natural and the spiritual man, which is a continual theme running through the entire sermon. Now at the culmination, Jesus shows the two possible outcomes of these two different types of people. And as a preacher, as a teacher of the gospel, Jesus uses these illustrations to press for a decision. He warns against doing nothing, of simply going along with the natural flow of the world. He warns that it’s important to examine yourself, to judge yourself, lest you be judged at the last day. He is pressing us towards a decision to enter into the narrow way that leads to life, or be found on that day to hear, “depart from Me, I never knew you.”
So in this illustration, Jesus presents two men who build two houses. Now most commentators say that these represent two different things; one is the men, and secondly is the houses they build. I recognize that I am not as smart as those commentators, but I think that they are one and the same. The man is represented by the house. In other words, the man is indistinguishable from the life he lives. And I think that is an important point which Jesus is emphasizing here. It’s not possible to consider a person without considering his life. It’s impossible to say, so and so is a good man, and yet they live as a bad man. I think that this is the point of the comparison of the fruit tree. Jesus said a bad tree bears bad fruit. What you are is evidenced by how you live. What you are on the inside shows itself on the outside.
I think this speaks to a lot of Christians who want to claim justification by grace, but their lives never show any sign of sanctification. But Hebrews says without sanctification, no one will see the Lord. So their life is a betrayal of their profession. There life is a reflection of who they are. The house they build is their fruit, it’s the life they live. As Jesus says, you shall know them by their fruits. He doesn’t say, you will know them by what they claim to be. In fact, the false prophets Jesus spoke of in vs15 claim all sorts of things; they claim to be prophets, they claim to be able to perform miracles, they claim to speak in Jesus’s name, and yet He says “I never knew you, DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.” Their fruit was lawlessness, which was evidence that they were not of God.
Notice also in this illustration that from outward appearances, both houses seem the same. They are built in the same location. They are subject to the same storms, the same stresses of life. The difference between them was one was founded upon a rock and one was built on the sand. We get some further insight into this illustration if we look at Luke 6, where on another occasion Jesus uses this same illustration in a very similar sermon. Look at Luke 6:47. Jesus said, "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted [accordingly,] is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”
So what is the difference between Matthew and Luke? In Luke, Jesus says that the difference is the wise man laid a foundation which was built on the rock. The foolish man built his house without a foundation. Now that gives us some insight into what Jesus was getting at.
Those of you that were at Bible study last Wednesday night will remember we looked at another passage which talked about a foundation. Paul says in 1 Cor. 3 vs 9 that you are God’s field, and God’s building. There the analogy is established that Jesus likens a man to a house. Paul says that we that are Christians are God’s house. God’s temple. Paul says in another place, 2 Cor. 5:1 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” So there should be no doubt that our life is correlated to a house, and the house which is built on a foundation is the life that is born of God. It’s a spiritual house, a spiritual life, which we received from God. The natural man does not have it. He is natural, carnal, still in his sins. He too builds a house, but it’s natural, it’s not of God. And as a result, it has no spiritual, eternal character. Paul says in 1Cor. 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” So there is a great difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. The spiritual man’s life has a foundation which is Jesus Christ, and the natural man has no foundation. He cannot ascertain that which is spiritual.
Go back to 1 Cor. chapter 3 again, and see what Paul has to say about this foundation. 1Cor. 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
Now Paul is speaking in that passage to Christians. He is addressing the church at Corinth. The foundation Paul makes clear is faith in Jesus Christ. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the word of Jesus Christ. It’s not just believing that Christ existed, but believing in His gospel. And you will notice that Paul says it’s important to build the right kind of building on that foundation. That which is built which is not of God, which is not spiritual, will be burned up at that day. And that which remains, in other words, that which remains which is spiritual, shall receive a reward. If all you built on your salvation is carnal, is natural, is things of this earth, then you will still be saved, Paul says, but yet as through fire. All of your works will be burned up.
Now I wanted to share that passage because it speaks clearly that the house is your life, and the judgment that is to come for all men, both good and bad, and it speaks clearly about the nature of our foundation.
But I want to point out that Jesus is giving us another type of comparison using a similar analogy. He is saying one man has a foundation, and the other one does not. So one person is a Christian and the other is not. That’s simply what it means. One has put their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and have been given spiritual life, and one has not. Their faith is in themselves, in science, in philosophy, in false religion, in wealth, in prestige, in power, whatever. Whatever they are building, it is not for the glory of God, it is not a spiritual life, it is something they are attempting to do on their own.
Jesus says the wise man dug deep and built a foundation. A foundation is analogous to being born again. When we are born, that is the beginning of our life. And when you build a house, the foundation is the beginning of a sound, well built house. You cannot have spiritual life without new birth. And new birth spiritually is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ.
The other man Jesus describes as foolish. He doesn’t see the need for a foundation. He thinks the efforts of his life are sufficient. He may have all the external appearances of a good life, but without a foundation which is laid in Jesus Christ his life is destined for destruction.
I want to point out another aspect of this foundation which the wise man built upon. When you build a house the foundation is something that is not really seen. It’s hidden. It’s what is underneath the ground, underneath the framing. But even though it is unseen, it’s vital to the stability of that house. And so it is with our new birth. From the outward appearance the natural man and the spiritual man may look very similar. On the surface, the natural man may even have a bigger or nicer house than the spiritual man. But the inner quality, the hidden quality of the spiritual man is what gives his life that indestructible quality, even immortality. Without the right foundation, the house cannot stand the tests and trials of life and the judgment to come.
There is another aspect of this foundation which Jesus wants us to consider. And that is it’s based on obedience to the word of Christ. Notice Jesus says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” And then in regards to the foolish man He says, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”
Now the Lord is not teaching here that the way to eternal life is by doing works. But rather He is saying what James says in his epistle, that faith without works is dead. When Jesus says that everyone who believes in Me will be saved, He is not talking about merely an intellectual assent to the truth of the gospel, but believing and trusting to the point of being obedient to it, of acting upon His word.
Jesus said previously that “not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter.” So there is a difference between a life founded on faith and obedience to the word and a life that may have an intellectual acknowledgement of the truth, but does not actually live in accordance with the truth.
The difference between faith and intellectual assent is that intellectual assent says “Lord, Lord” but does not do His will. Faith is dying to self and putting God’s will above your own. Paul says in Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Now that is possible for the spiritual man because in regeneration God has changed my desires. I have a new heart. Salvation is not just a clean heart, being forgiven, but being changed. It’s a new heart, new desires, a new character. It’s being remade in the image of Christ. It’s being a new creation, old things are passed away and all things become new. And so there is now a desire now to do the things of God. As Jesus said in the Beatitudes at the beginning of this message, “blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” As a new creation I have a hunger for righteousness, I have a hunger for the word, I want to live to please my Lord and Savior. I am willing to make a sacrifice of my old way of life in order to obey and please the Lord.
So you have pictured here two men, whose lives are characterized as two houses, which look very similar on the outside, but inwardly one has a foundation and one does not. One man hears and does the word of God, and one does his own will. So then what? To each his own? You have your religion and I have mine? Is that the outcome?
No, Jesus says that both these houses will endure storms. He describes it as rain, floods and wind which beat upon the houses. And Jesus says that the house which was built on the foundation did not fall, but for the house without foundation, great was it’s fall. Now what does that mean?
Well, some preachers have tried to break down this allegory to the point of identifying things that I don’t think Jesus Himself even thought of. I read one theologian who said that the rain symbolized things like illness, loss or disappointment, something going wrong in your life. Floods, they say, represent the world, and the things of the world like the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. And the winds blowing they say symbolizes the attacks of the devil. I must say, I do sometimes think the devil is in the wind. But I don’t know how we can really determine what specific things are symbolized here.
However, in light of the text, one thing I think we can be certain of. These storms of life come upon the whole world. Notice Jesus says the same storms come to the wise and the unwise. They come upon the Christian and the non Christian. Christians in Christ’s analogy are not immune to the storms of life. Rather, Jesus said in John 16:33 “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." So if we are to understand this illustration correctly, Jesus is saying that trouble and trials, the storms of life, are universal. It’s something that happens to everyone.
For the Christian, I believe the Bible teaches that God uses trials to refine us, to sanctify us, to mature us and to strengthen us. But for the unbeliever, who does not have a foundation, such trials will wreck destruction upon them. So that is one interpretation.
But I think the intent of this illustration goes further than that. I think He is not just speaking of the trials of this life, while we are living, but that Jesus is speaking of the end of our life. Death is universal. If you look at the other illustrations that Jesus gave in His sermon, He speaks of the day of judgment. He says the broad way leads to destruction. He says the bad tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire. He says that may will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord” and He will say, “depart from Me I never knew you.”
So I think that Jesus is referring to the storms as a metaphor for death, and the judgment to come. And I find support for that by His reference to the rain and the floods. And I find it similar to language found in the Genesis account of the flood. The flood in Genesis was an act of God’s judgment upon the wickedness of the world. It had never rained, and so men were not concerned about that possibility. Yet the day came when God closed Noah and his family up in the ark, and the rains came, and the waters of the deep broke loose, and the floods came and destroyed all living things upon the earth. And great was it’s fall.
Listen, Hebrews 9:27 says, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement. I think Paul is speaking of the same event in 1 Cor. 3, in the conversation about the foundation and building upon it, Paul changes the metaphor from water to fire, saying in vs12 “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.”
You will remember that Peter said the first world was destroyed by a flood, but the next time the world will be destroyed by fire. And so I believe this is a reference to the day of judgment, when those who are without a spiritual foundation will be cast into hell, for eternal destruction, and great will be their fall. It’s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. God will pour out His wrath upon those who considered the blood of Jesus Christ as something common, something to be trampled underfoot in their hurry to live life like they wanted. And as the wicked were destroyed in the day of the flood, so also at the end of the age, on that day, the wicked will be cast into the eternal flame, undergoing eternal destruction.
But in the account of the flood, you will remember that one family was saved. They had a firm foundation. They had built upon that foundation of faith in obedience to what God had said. And so they built an ark in obedience to God’s word, and when the rain and the floods and the wind came, which destroyed all the rest, they were delivered.
Listen, Jesus gave this illustration to say that there is a choice that is set before you. To receive the life of Christ by faith in Him and repentance of your sins, or to go on your way, trusting in your own ability to make a life for yourself. But the fact remains, that none of us get out of here alive. It is appointed for all men to die and after that the judgment. But a life lived in Christ is a life that endures beyond the grave. It is a life that will be resurrected in a better body, in a better world, for a better future. But for the life that rejects Christ, that refuses to bow to His will, for that soul there is nothing but eternal destruction. I pray that you will hear His invitation today to come to Him, to receive Him as your Savior and Lord, and to follow Him all your days. If you will come to Him, He said He will never cast you out. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. You are not guaranteed tomorrow. Come to Jesus for forgiveness and a new life in Him.
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