Deliverance Or Destruction

For example, in...

- Matthew 16:18. We read, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will BUILD my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

- Romans 15:20. We read, “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should BUILD upon another man's foundation:”

- I Cor. 3:12-14. We read, “Now if any man BUILD upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”

There are several reasons why building terminology is so greatly used throughout the scriptures.

First, building terminology best describes what the Lord is trying to do in our lives.

We all have driven by an empty field filled with clutter, then a few weeks later drive by that same field and see the land has been cleared and a gorgeous house is being built there. Then still later we drive by and the house is complete.

This is exactly what the Lord is doing, spiritually, in our lives. Before we were saved our lives were filled with the clutter of sin. Then by the precious blood of our Savior our sins are cleansed and God begins building things of value in our lives.

Building terminology describes what God is doing in our lives.

Secondly, the reason building terminology is used by Christ, we must not forget, probably was because he was raised in the home of a carpenter. In most cases you will find that a carpenter’s son will know more about carpentry than a bankers son.

It is conceivable to imagine that when Christ was in His teens that He built things with His own hands in His father’s shop. We are never told of anything He built, but we can rest assured that He, Who created the heavens and earth with HIS WORDS, as a carpenter built lovely things with HIS HANDS.

As we think of Christ, with His knowledge of carpentry, we can easily imagine His standing before a crowd, telling them WHAT THEY SHOULD BUILD THEIR LIVES UPON.

For example, notice in our text, as He speaks of BUILDING He also speaks of a STORM. You see, a wise builder does not build for the sunshine. He builds with a storm in mind. For example...

Illus: In many regions of this country building codes are being completely revamped. Why? Because they have learned that building according to a code for moderate weather is not sufficient. When severe storms come, or earthquakes come, buildings and houses are destroyed unless they have been built strongly enough to withstand the winds and upheaval.

Illus: We saw a good example of this in September of 1988 when we were introduced to hurricane Gilbert. It went through Jamaica, part of Mexico, and the shores of Texas. Almost from its inauguration, this hurricane had winds up to 170 miles per hour. Needless to say, when these winds whipped through these regions everything in its path that was not very strong, and on good foundations was destroyed.

Anyone who has ever been in a severe storm knows what a frightening experience it is. What makes it so frightening is that when we face it we never know if we will survive or not!

In this passage, it is implied that the storms of life are something we can depend on. Whether or not we survive them depends entirely on how we build our lives.

Notice in our text, Matthew 7:24-27, the Lord shows us in His Word that there are two kinds of builders. That is...

- Both are building a house.

- Both choose a foundation.

- Both experience rains, floods and winds beating upon their house.

They are both similar in many ways. However, in some ways they are not similar at all. For example...

- One experienced a great deliverance.

- One experienced a great destruction.

Let us look at...

I. THE DELIVERANCE.

Look at Matthew 7:24-25. We read, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

Notice that the Lord begins this passage on building with these words of admonition, “...whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man...”

In these verses the Lord is telling us two things we must do in order to build wisely. First...