BUILDING FOR ETERNITY
Matt. 7:24-29
INTRO. This passage comes at the end of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount in which he gives the beatitudes...shows the importance of his believers in the world (salt of the earth)...tells the Jews that he is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses...gives a new view of divorce and giving of alms...teaches how to pray properly... and warns against the danger of religious formalism.
He tells them that God the Father is concerned for their well-being and goes into chapter 7 with the admonition that we are not to judge our neighbors, but we are to leave that to God.
He ends with another lesson on prayer and a warning against false teachers. Then the whole thing is tied up neatly with out text.
The entire sermon might be summarize in these four points:
1) All men are building
2) All buildings set on a foundation
3) All foundations will be tried
4) Only one foundation will stand.
I. THE TWO BUILDERS.
A. "Therefore" = means ‘knowing all of this then’. This refers back to vs. 21-23. The hearers are expected to take all they have just heard from Jesus and use that information to weigh the difference between the wise builder and the unwise builder. (Vs.. 24 and 26).
1. This is not a comparison between two men who deliberately set out to build on different foundations.
a. Rather, it is a comparison of one man who gives careful consideration to the foundation he is building on and another man who gives no thought at all to the foundation he is building on.
b. One goes by a plan and the other is haphazard. The lesson is clear in Lk. 6:47-49.
2. It is not so much that the foolish man actually believes that sand is a better foundation to build on. It’s just that he simply gives no thought to the importance of a good foundation. In his view, it is the house which is important and not the foundation.
B. Now we could draw many parallels to this picture.
1. Such as a teenager deciding what path he or she will follow in life. Shall it be the life of wild excitement ("where the action is") or shall he coolly and calmly decide on the right education and friends. Will he follow the life of drinking and drugs, deluding himself into believing that such things are a good foundation for his life or will he go with a good religious background and a strong moral character.
2. We might apply the parable to our choice of a life long mate. Shall we choose the exciting, popular person even though they are arrogant, proud and somewhat flighty or shall we choose the decent, quite and religious person. Here we might be reminded of the old saying that "still water runs the deepest".
3. And we might apply the meaning to the raising of our children. So often we say that we want our children to decide for themselves what they will believe and what church they should go to. But would you want an amateur to decide the foundation for your new home?
C. But the real meaning of the parable is eternal and timeless. It has to do with your soul and your next life. (Vs.. 24 & 26).
1. You are a builder, both in this life -- now and for the future; and for all eternity.
2. Vs.. 25 and 27-28. Both houses faced the same kind of trials and it was not the material of the building but the foundation that saved them.
3. Ask yourself, "Have I confused the building material with the foundation?"
a. Baptism, church membership and a good moral life are building material but they are not foundation material.
b. (I Cor. 3:11) - "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
II. THE TWO FOUNDATIONS. (Vs.. 24 and 26)
A. We know from I Cor. 3:11 that God looks upon Jesus as the only firm foundation.
1. JESUS!! Not his church....not his laws or life... not a duplication of his character...not the ordinances...not "the best you can"...and not sincerity.
2. (Jn. 3:36) - "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
3. See also John 1:11-13
B. Let us consider the storm that beat against the houses.
1. We often think of sickness, loss of job, a home burning down, or car wreck as "the storm of life".
2. But that is nothing compared to what Jesus means. He has reference to the storm of God’s judgment.
a. (I Cor. 3:13) -- "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."
b. (Text vs. 21-23) The works may have been great but the foundation was wrong.
III. THE TWO RESULTS. (vs. 25 and 27)
A. The greatest decision you will make in this life does not concern this life at all. It concerns the life to come. Many will never make a decision concerning Jesus and their life because they do not think it all that important.
1. To them money is important, fun and friends is important, having a fine car and nice house is important.
2. These things are the building material of their life but they are unwise because they have no foundation but sand. The storm is coming and many of you will find you have built in vain.
B. Note the description of the fall: "And great was the fall of it." It is great because it will fall forever. It is great because there is no remedy for the fall. Once your eternal house has fallen you are doomed forever.
CONCLU. Do you find all this hard to believe? So did the Jews (vs. 28). Men cannot readily accept the idea that they will punished forever for the mistakes of this short lifetime. The error of that thinking is that God does not consider them as mistakes but as sin. Mistakes can be corrected as in a defective building but sin must be punished.
(vs. 29) You may doubt me and any other preacher in the world but these are the words of God’s ultimate authority. It boils down to this: Get right with God in Jesus and you have the right foundation...if not you will fall forever.
