Built To Last

II. THE LIFE THAT LASTS IS TESTED BY SEVERE STORMS.

THE PARABLE OF THE TWO BUILDERS contrasts the life of a wise man and a foolish man. But there is a parallel experience both men share. While built on different foundations, both houses were severely assaulted by a great storm. In regard to both houses, Jesus says, “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house.” This parallel experience teaches three things about the storms of life.

A. THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE INEVITABLE.

Two men built houses on different foundations – one on the rock and the other on the sand. The rains fell on both houses. The floods rose against both houses. The winds beat upon both houses. The fact that these two different houses faced the same storm teaches us that the storms of life are inevitable, inescapable, and unavoidable. You can be righteous or wicked. You can be wise or foolish. You can build on the rock or on the sand. The storms of life will still come. This clearly debunks the popular myth that erroneously claims that Christian people are exempt from the storms of life. Job 5:7 says, “But man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” Job 14:1 says, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.” This is the fact of life. Storms will come. Your faith in God will not prevent the storms of life. To the contrary, there are some storms you will face as a direct result of faith in God.

In Mark 4:35, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” So they got in a boat and began to sail across the Sea of Galilee. But as they traveled, a storm erupted on the sea. Note that the disciples were not in a storm because they were disobedient. They were doing exactly what the Lord told them to do. Jesus was even on the ship with them. Yet they still found themselves in a storm. Likewise, your spiritual devotion to the Lord will not keep you out of a storm. Please do not ignore this reality because the sun is shining in your life. You are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or heading into storm. The storms of life are inevitable. DR. H. BEECHER HICKS wrote a little book entitled, Preaching Through A Storm, about how he preached through an extended season of conflict in his church. The book ends with the storm subsided and peace restored. But the final chapter of the book is entitled, “Storms Keep Coming.” That’s the truth. Just because you have come out of a storm does not mean you can put away your storm gear, alert system, or emergency equipment. Storms keep coming.

B. THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE OVERWHELMING.

You have heard the axiom, “In every life, some rain must fall.” That statement, though true, is not the whole truth. The whole truth is recorded here in verses 25 and 27: “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house.” The definite article, “the rain,” suggests that this was no passing shower. It was a torrential downpour of rain. But it did not stop there. As the rainwaters fell, the floodwaters rose. The dry ground became the riverbed of a growing stream. But it did not stop there. As the rain fell and the floods rose, hurricane-force winds swept in and beat upon these houses. Any one of these three elements would have been enough to destroy these houses. But all three of these nasty elements hit at the same time.