The House On The Rock Series

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Part 22

The House on the Rock

Pm Service March 29th 2009

Matthew 7:24-27

Introduction

In 1174 the Italian architect Bonnano Pisano began work on what would become his most famous project: A separately standing bell tower for the Cathedral of the city of Pisa. The tower was to be eight-stories and 185-foot-tall tall. There was just one "little" problem: builders quickly discovered that the soil was much softer than they had anticipated, and the foundation was far too shallow to adequately hold the structure! And sure enough, before long the whole structure had begun to tilt... and it continued to tilt... until finally the architect and the builders realized that nothing could be done to make the Leaning Tower of Pisa straight again. It took 176 years to build the Tower of Pisa and during that time many things were done to try and compensate for the "tilt." Foundation was shored up; the upper levels were even built at an angle to try to make the top of the tower look straight. Nothing worked. The tower has stood for over 800 years, but it leans 18 feet away from where it should be. One day, experts say, it will fall. All because it wasn’t built on the right foundation.

Jesus in closing out His great sermon on the Mount is going to share with us a parable about foundations. Tonight we will see the contrast between the wise and foolish builder.

Read Scriptures: Matthew 7:24-27

I. Hearing and Doing.

Vs. 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Vs. 26 “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

Both hear, but only the Wise Man does anything about it.

James 1:22-25 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”

You can hear sermon after sermon, read passage after passage, and if you don’t do what the word says, then what are you searching for, why are you listening, why are you reading.

Jesus says the wise man is the one who hears and does, the foolish man is the one who hears and does nothing, which are you tonight.

II. Building and Foundations.

Vs. 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Vs. 26 “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

Both men build, but on different types of soil.

Everyone is building the house in which he/she lives; either by design or unconsciously.

What distinguishes the builders is the foundation they choose to build on!

On Oct. 17, 1989 a massive earthquake struck the San Francisco area and the people there gave a lot of thought to the foundation they were built on. Buildings built on solid ground sustained much less damage than those built on "filled in" areas. The south pier of the Golden Gate Bridge sits directly on top of the San Andreas fault! Yet it was undamaged in that quake because the weight of the bridge rests on the two towers deeply embedded into the rock beneath the sea. Remember that double-decker freeway in Oakland that collapsed? It was built on land that had been filled in. It all looked the same until the time of testing!

III. Storms and Outcomes.

Vs. 25 “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”

Vs. 27 “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Both houses are hit by a storm, but only one of them survives.

Storms will come--for everybody; every house we build will face a storm.

Following Jesus does not exempt us from life’s storms! Jesus is not teaching a parable about how to build our houses in protected areas. There are no storm-free zones! This is a parable about foundations, not avoiding the weather. The outcome is determined by the foundation we’re sitting on.