A Firm Foundation
Pray.
If I were to ask you, What is the most important part of any structure, Any house, skyscraper, hospital building,
etc. What would your answer be? And of course the answer would be its foundation.
See, it doesn't matter how beautiful of a structure you build, It doesn't matter how glamourous the building is,
without a proper foundation under it, supporting it, it will eventually fall.
One of the greatest and best known examples in our world today, is the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.
But we must understand, it wasn't built to lean. It was constructed to be the Tower of Pisa, not the leaning tower
of Pisa. But subsequently it began to lean, five years after it's construction due to a poor substrate, very poor soil
conditions.
In the Bible , Jesus warns us of such things in our lives. Jesus certainly understands, that for any Christian to lead
and have the kind of life that He intended us to have,
The First thing you must do is lay the foundation in your life. A proper foundation. A foundation that will not cause
you to lean back towards the life, He saved you from. A foundation that will not cause you to lean back towards the
world, but a Firm foundation that will keep you walking perfectly upright and straight for Jesus.
In Matthew 7:24-29 we have Jesus' words speaking to us today through His Holy Bible.
read verses 24-25.
Here Jesus tells us the proper way, The Godly way to lay the founation for our lives. This is God's blueprint to
follow. Follow it and find success, Decline it and find certain failure, it's your choice.
Jesus says here in these two verses, Anyone, man woman or child that hears my words, and actually does
what He says todo, is a wise person.
Notice Jesus doesn't say, if you sit through a 30 minute sermon without falling asleep is a wise person.
He doesn't say, reading your Bible 15 minutes a day makes you a wise person. He doesn't say praying 3 times
a day makes you a wise person, Although they are all wonderful things and things we should be doing,
But Jesus says, First Hear My Words, But wisdom is found in obedience to His Words.
Jesus says, A proper foundation for your life comes through hearing His words, And then applying them to your life
and living them. These two things are handcuffed together. Doing one without the other, should never happen.
Why come to church and sit through sermon after sermon, Why read your Bible at home daily, IF you're not
going to apply what you've heard and learned?
Also, without hearing God's Word preached regularly and without reading your bible regularly, You certainly will
not choose to live a life pleasing to God. The two work together.
Jesus says, A wise person, does both of these things. Jesus says, that will be an everlasting foundation for
your life to be built upon. And if you chose to hear, read and study God's Holy Book and then Apply and live what
you've learned to your life, in vs. 25 you will be able to stand when the storms of life hit you square in the face.
Why? You will stand, when you receive bad news. You will stand when you get laid off from work? You will
stand when the stock market crashes. You will stand when things do not go your way, Because they won't.
You will stand because your life is built upon the rock. And that rock will hold you strong. And if your foundation
is attached to the rock, you will not waver.
Now I think it's apparent here, who that rock is. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, And did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 2:19-22 , Paul wrote this to the church members in Ephesus, to which God is telling us here today,
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the house hold of
God. vs. 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, JESUS CHRIST, Himself Being the
Chief Cornerstone.
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Paul clealry reaffirms the teaching of Jesus in our text, Matthew 7. Paul says, If you have accepted Christ as
your personal savior, You are no longer a stranger or foreigner to God, you are now a citizen with the saints of the
house hold of God. And your foundation is a foundation built by the apostles and the prophets, BUT the Chief
cornerstone, The main stone, The most important stone in that foundation is Jesus Christ.
It's no coincidence that Jesus is referred to as the Cornerstone. Each time, when the Jews built their temple,
they actually used a primary cornerstone. The first stone laid and it was the most perfect stone laid in the foundation.
It was perfectly plumb, it was perfectly square, it was perfect in every aspect, A flawless stone, Just like Jesus.
Now follow the comparison, if the actual cornerstone was not perfect, and the other stones were laid against it
and on top of it, what would happen? They would begin to lean, they would follow the shape of the cornerstone.
In your life, Jesus Christ has to be the cornerstone in your foundation, for if anything else is, Your life will follow
in that direction as well.
We sing the old hymn, ON Christ the Solid Rock I Stand all other ground is Sinking Sand, All other ground is
Sinking Sand. And how true that is.
It's true, not because of my own experiences, it's not true because of your experiences, It's true because Jesus
says so here in Matthew 7:24-25.
Your life, to be effective, Your life to be fulfilled, must be built on the Rock of Jesus Christ. It is He that will
withstand your life through every storm that comes your way.
Know His Words. Ask yourself, Is my knowledge of Jesus and His Word increasing or decreasing from what
it used to be? Am I really applying what I know about Jesus and His teachings in my life?
A life built on Jesus is a person full of faith, a person serving Him and it's a person fired up about Him and what
He has done and is doing for them. It's a person that doesn't waver in their beliefs. It's a person that doesn't
compromise the Truth in their life. It's a person that puts Jesus first in their life. It's a person that realizes , without
Jesus, their life is truly pointless.
When Jesus addressed the Pharisees and Saducees, concerning thier visit to see John the Baptist, What did He
ask them, Jesus said, What did you come out here expecting to find, A reed shaken in the wind?
Jesus told them, John the Baptist is not a reed blowing in the wind, being tossed about by the storms of the world,
He's a great man, Who built his life upon the Rock of Jesus Christ and nothing will move him from that.
In the book of James we are told, Double minded people are unstable in all thier ways.
People that make Jesus Christ the foundation in their lives are not double minded, they are Christ minded and
therefore are not unstable, but very stable in all their ways because they have a solid foundation for thier life.
In verses. 26-27, here in Matthew 7 Jesus clearly states, a life not built on the Rock of Jesus Christ, will crumble.
The key here is, it will Eventually crumble. See, many skip this very important fact hidden in these verses here.
Jesus doesn't say, it's impossible to build on Sand. You can build on sand, And something built on sand, whether
it be your life, a business, even many churches can appear as it is flourishing, BUT Jesus' word is very clear here,
Eventually it will Crumble.
Many Christians look around and see other people flourishing. We see unsaved or people that claim to be
Christians, that don't show the fruit of being one, fourishing in business. As church members, we have a tendency
.
to view other churches, that are not teaching the truth of God's Word flourishing and we think, What's going on here?
But God says, don't worry about other people, other business, other churches, Their time is coming, they will
fall, they will face judgment, God cannot be a liar. This is greatly illustrated in the Bible, through the life of Cain.
Cain, the man that committed the first murder on our planet. He killed his brother Abel.
God confronted Cain about the murder, Cain lied about it, he tried to hide Abel's body, hoping to get away with it.
But God of course knew what had happened and God did punish Cain, but not how we would have liked him to.
God allowed Cain, a man who built his life upon sand, to live life. Cain remarried, had many wonderful children,
And God even allowed Cain to build many industrialized cities according to the book of Genesis.
Cain looked like he got away with murder. God was allowing him to flourish. Cain had wives, children, he built
and ruled cities, BUT one day, God said, Now let's see if those cities stand and He sent the flood waters of Noah
and wiped Cain, His wives, His children and everything he accomplished in this world OUT in the blink of an eye.
Today, let's not be concerned with other people, other churches that may appear to be flourishing, because if
they are built upon sand, God will take care of them.
You need to focus on your life. Is your life built upon the perfect Rock, the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
Know His Word. Study His Word. And most importantly Apply it to your life.
Parents are you laying this foundation in your children's lives? Are you first, showing them that Jesus is the
foundation in your life. And second are you telling them, He must be what they build their lives upon because
everything else will fail them.
You cannot prove Jesus wrong here. A life that is not built upon Him will fail and it will sink.
The Tower of Pisa, quickly became the leanning tower of Pisa. The original builders in 1177 did not build that tower
expecting it to start leanning 5 years later, it just happened because they did not lay a proper foundation.
It took five years before it leaned one inch. That improper foundation held that building straight for 5 years, BUT
through storms, rain and wind, As the ground began to sink, the building began to gradually lean. See, the tower
had no ability on it's own to stand straight, because it's foundation began to sink on one side.
Jesus may not be your foundation right now. You may be living a life, without Jesus, thinking you're making out
fine. But, I promise you, If your feet are not deeply rooted in Jesus' Word and if you are not applying Him to your
life daily, Eventually that sand under your feet will start to slowly sink and you will begin to lean.
You'll eventually lean back to the sins that Jesus saved you from. You'll eventually begin to slip and lean away from
Jesus and His will in your life.
Maybe for some here, that lean has already begun. Maybe the sand beneath your feet has already begun to sink.
There is an easy fix. REPENT to the Lord, ask His forgiveness and Re commit to Him today. Make Jesus the
foundation for your life from this day forward and Apply what you know into your life.
Christianity is not about religions. It's not about rituals, it's about Christ. That's it.
Do not let the devil deteriorate your foundation. Do not let him mix clay in with your iron.
Be as John the Baptist, A reed NOT shaken by the wind. BE as the apostle Paul, A man that said, I will always
continue to Press Forward towards the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ.
As I close, I want you to either visualize or remember this. In our passage, we are told we will walk on either
rock or sand. The rock representing Jesus and the sand represents the world.
What will tire you out quicker, walking on a concrete sidewalk or walking on the beach?
Walking on sand is exhausting, Walking in this world without Jesus will exhaust you. It will leave you tired and empty
If you haven't or if you have leaned away from Jesus come back to Him today.
If you have made Jesus the rock, If His Word is the foundation of your life, Continue, Press Forward.
When Jesus is your foundation, Yes, the world will despise you, But your LORD and SAVIOR will LOVE YOU.
Which means more to you? Is Jesus worth putting first in your life, Monday through Saturday, not just on Sunday.
On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand all other ground is Sinking Sand, All other Ground is Sinking Sand.
Let's Pray.
