Then it's just, I don't know, I read the Bible and read the Bible and read the Bible and study it and study it and study it, and then read it over again and go, where did that come from? I've read that a bunch of times. I never saw that before. Did I give you Luke 6? Get Luke 6 and get Matthew 7 in the same time. Matthew chapter 7. I'll show you something I picked up here. Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 24. Notice what he says in Matthew 7 verse number 24. The Bible says, 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. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon the house. And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and it beat upon the house. And it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus ended these sayings, that people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now come over to Luke chapter number 7. Here's a parallel passage, or 6, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 6. And look at verse number 6, 46. And the Bible says, And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep. and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon the rock. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth, and against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." Now, I want you to just notice a couple of things in this passage right here. The Lord's got two men here. Both of them are coming. Both of them are listening. Both of them are at least going to do some building. But there are some distinct differences in the comparisons that He makes. The one over in Matthew says that He built it upon a rock. Luke says he digged deep and built it upon a rock. The one in Matthew says that the foolish man built it upon sand, and here the foolish man built it upon earth, which is like clay, meaning that you can actually build something upon yourself and expect it to amount to something, but when the storm comes, when the trouble comes, when the trials come, guess what's going to happen? The house is going to fall. Now here's what I want to talk to you about a little bit this evening is, is first of all, there's going to come a test as to whether or not your house is built upon a rock or whether or not it's built upon the earth. Whether or not it's built upon Jesus Christ or whether or not it's built upon you and yourself. There's going to come a time where the rain is going to come, the winds are going to blow, and the Bible says there's a stream rising or a flood, and what its purpose is, is to try to knock the house off the foundation. And if that foundation, leave your finger there in Luke chapter number 7, if that foundation, turn to Luke 17, is built upon you, then you know what's going to happen? It's going to fall. And here's the hard thing for people to understand. The Bible says that if you're going to be an obedient servant, that you're supposed to dig deep and lay your foundation upon a rock. And I'm not a builder. But I do know this, I do know that it's a lot easier to scrape the ground and hurry up and build something and get it up above the ground where people can see than it is to dig and excavate and dig and excavate and dig and excavate until you find a hard enough ground that you can lay the proper foundation and the next thing you know then up come the walls and stuff. I know it's much easier, especially if you're doing it with a Chinese drag line, that's a shovel, I know it's easier to just scrape the surface of something, cut the grass roots out and that kind of stuff, and then go ahead and throw your form boards down and throw a foundation on it. The problem is, is that it'll stand for a while. But when the storm comes, that's when that house is going to come tumbling down, and it ain't going to be just the roof blowing off of it. It's not going to be just a few shingles coming off the top. The whole house is going to come down if you build it on anything but the rock. There's a principle in the Christian life that a lot of people don't understand, and it's found in Luke 17. preach this whole passage to you, but I've preached it before, but it needs to be repeated, and you need to understand that there is going to come a time where your house is going to be tested. In other words, what the Lord wants you to do is to understand that before you can lay a foundation, you've got to dig deep and get down to where the foundation is, where the rocks at. That means you've got to read the Bible, you've got to study the Bible, you've got to understand the Bible. You have to try to get as much information about that foundation as you can. Unfortunately, most people nowadays just scratch the surface when it comes to knowing anything about the Lord. I've told you before, the most un-preached subject in the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. The most un-preached subject in the Bible is just preaching about Jesus, knowing about Jesus, knowing how Jesus handled things, how God does things, and that kind of stuff. Because people would rather just scratch the surface instead of digging deep. But if you want something that's going to last, something that's going to be here for a while, you can't just preach salvation all the time and expect to have a deep enough excavation that when the floods come, the rains fall, the winds blow, that you don't get swept away. So many Christians today get knocked out of a battle because their excavation is not really fastened to the rock. They're believing in the rock and they understand the rock as far as salvation is concerned, but they haven't really attached themselves as far as their own building on it. And 1 Corinthians 3 says that you can build upon that foundation. No other foundation can any man lay other than that with Jesus Christ. But you know what happens? If you let a bunch of sediment settle on that foundation before you start putting in your boards and all the things that you're going to nail everything up to, You know what will happen sooner or later, that clay that's in between that foundation and those boards are going to rot those boards, and that house is coming down. And every man decides to insert something between him and the Lord, it compromises the house, but it doesn't compromise the foundation. The problem is, is that sometimes we get in a hurry to get something up where people can see it, and we put stuff between us and the foundation, and then we're amazed when the trouble comes. Why it is we get so easily knocked out? Because you ain't anchored to the foundation. Look at Luke chapter number 17. The Bible says, then said He unto the disciples, it is impossible, but that offenses will come. Paul says over there in the Pauline Epistles, he said, in trials and tribulations and fastings and nakedness and peril, shipwreck, a day and a night in the deep, Paul says, all these things are added unto me, and a day and a night in the deep, and on top of that, all the cares of the church. Paul said, I had a life of trouble, trials and tribulations, and we glory in tribulation. And a Christian gets the idea that now that I'm saved, there shouldn't be any trouble. Trouble comes to have you check your foundation. The building is only as good as the foundation. Now, I realize if you're saved that the foundation is sure, but you better understand that only your foundation is sure. You're not sure unless you're anchored to the foundation. I know that seems fundamental, and you would think that we would grasp that, but isn't it strange how easily we get offended? Isn't it strange what silly things we get offended by? You know why? Because we don't hear and heed what the Lord says. The Lord says, they hated Me, they're going to hate you. The Lord says, I had controversy, I had trouble, I had problems. Well, why were you going to be any different? I am in the Father's will, I am the Father of one, and they're hanging Me on a cross. And Christians think, well, now that I'm saved, I shouldn't have any problems. No, the problems come to have you make sure the foundation is sure. Notice he says, "...but it is impossible that offenses will come, but woe unto him through whom they come! Better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and cast in the sea, than to fend one of these little ones." Back to Luke chapter number 7. Offenses are going to come. And when they come, they come to increase your faith. In what? The foundation. You see, you don't really know what the foundation is made of and what it can stand until it goes through a storm. You don't know how good a ship is until the waves get 40 feet high. I think you all know by now, I've said it enough times, I like that crab thing that comes on where they go out in the Bering Sea and throw them cages out and catch those crabs and all that. And if I ever eat crabs, I'll never complain about paying whatever they charge for them. You've got to go through that to get a crab, man. I mean, I'll pay for it, man. I don't mind. But I watch those guys go out there and do that stuff. That stuff interests me, but you know what? As long as that ship's sailing along in the smooth water out there in the harbor and all that stuff and a few little snowflakes are falling and all that, you don't know anything about that ship. And all of a sudden those waves start cresting 40 and 50 feet and that wind starts howling, buddy, and that snow is falling and ice is building up on the bow of that ship and they're having to bust it off with sledgehammers and water's flushing over the deck of that thing. Then you find out whether or not that ship is strong enough to withstand a storm. They build ships to withstand storms, not to sail calm seas. And Christian, you need to realize what God's trying to do is build you to withstand storms, not to sail in calm seas. You have to understand that we've got good times, and things are fine, and things are wonderful, and I'm not saying, you know, that everything's going to go south tomorrow and when you wake up in the morning, but I am saying this. I know for a fact troubles are going to befall a Christian, because the Bible says, if you suffer, you shall also reign with me. He's going to give you plenty of opportunities to suffer. Yes or no? But you know what? When those things come, you can either say, okay, we're going to test it out and see what she's made of. We're going to see whether or not she can handle it. What's the point of getting in and getting all the best parts and building a hot rod, get you an engine built and all that. And it all looks real good. You got all the best of the best and you got the, I don't even know if they still have Holley four barrels, but that's back when I was around. You get all that stuff going and then you go, don't, don't crank it up. Why not, man? Let's see what she can do. No, no, just build her to look at her. Don't crank her up, you know. I mean, you might burn it up or you might crash it or something might happen. Who cares, man? I mean, let's hit the wall doing 180, man. Let's see what she'll do, man. I mean, fire that baby up. Let's hear her purr a little bit, right? Right? There's no point in having it if you're not going to crank it up and see what she can do. Well, Christian, what the Lord wants to do is, is He equips you by telling you, if you're wise, you'll hear and do the things that I tell you to do, and hearing and doing them will prepare you when the storm comes, when the rain comes, when the wind blows. That's the little P-dab storms that come along. Then he says, that rain gets to the point that it creates a stream that has force behind it, and it's coming, and it's not just trying to take the roof off, it's trying to knock that house off of the foundation. And the Lord says, if you hear and do what I tell you to do, when that stream comes to knock you off the foundation, your anchor's going to hold, and you're going to be attached to the foundation, and the water's going to hit you, and it's going to go on around you, and the house is going to stand. Now that's Christianity. That's what a Christian learns to do over a period of a lifetime, that he doesn't get this sort of a squishy sort of a always looking to be offended, always looking to be upset, always looking to, you know, every time of just a little pitter-patter of rain, a crash of thunder, a little bolt of lightning, and, oh my God, the house is falling! Put up the storm shutters. It's beautiful. The whole thing's coming down, you know. Oh my God, this is terrible." And it gets washed off the foundation. You know why? It never was put on the foundation. It was put on some stuff that was on top of the foundation. Now, you have to be careful to make the application. Obviously, the application is the saved man, the one that hears it and does it, and he's anchored to the foundation. The lost man is the one that's not. I understand that. But I'm making an application or a practical application for you as Christians tonight. to try to tell you that when a storm comes in your life, it comes in there to let you realize that your foundation is sure, and you really don't know that foundation is sure until God requests of you something you don't know and understand. And then it's kind of like, well, I guess I just have to trust the foundation to hold because, buddy, I feel like the Hoover Dam just busted, and I mean I am fixing to be knocked off the foundation. And the Lord said, just hang on, I'll get you through it. And then you know what happens? You come through that thing and come out on the other side without your house getting knocked off the foundation, and you're thinking, boy, the foundation sure is good. You won't be giving no credit to the house because if the house is the same house, is anchored to the earth yourself. You know what happens? When that thing comes, it'll stand a little wind, it'll stand a little rain, depending on how much willpower you got. But you know what happens? When the stream comes and the waters rise, you know what happens? That house breaks loose and down the stream she goes and your house is tore up. I've seen Christians time and time and time again, because they built everything on themselves and their feelings, and they built their whole life around themselves, that when something happens, they get upset, buddy, that house comes up, and downstream they go, and they're just as saved as me and you are. You say, why? They built it on something other than Jesus Christ. Folks, that's the one thing that you need to understand. Storms are going to come. Notice, first of all, if you will, look at the wisdom of the obedient. He believed in the rock. The Bible says that he stayed and he stood there, but notice in verse number 48, he dug deep. Now, I hate to tell you this. I wish that I could tell you something otherwise, but if you're going to get to know your foundation, you're going to have to dig deep to get it. That doesn't mean you have to know deep things. It means that you have to go through some troubles and trials together. The greatest friendships are forged in trouble, trials, and war. And those friendships, when people go through trouble together, they go through difficulties together, they go through problems together, losses together, successes together, it forges a friendship like nothing you can imagine. But the only way you're going to have that friendship is to go through some trouble with Jesus. For Him to show you, He can get you through. Anybody can get you through good times. I'd be willing to bet you when times are good, you probably aren't really thinking much about the Lord. I mean, maybe you're saying, thank the Lord and praise the Lord and hallelujah and that kind of thing. But you know, when you really start thinking about the Lord, when times get tough, that's the greatest thing the Lord could ever do for you. You know what Paul said in Romans? Paul said that we glory in tribulation. Well, I never understood that until I got a hold of this passage right here. And I started looking at that and I thought, well, now Paul, why in the cat hair would you be glorying in tribulation? That don't make no sense to me. Nobody, that's almost like you're looking for trouble or something. And Paul says we glory in tribulation. And I'm thinking, you're an idiot. Why would anybody want trouble in their life? But I started looking back over the history of my life, and it ain't much of a history to look at. There's a lot of things in that life I wish weren't in that life. But you know what I realized? I realized every time trouble came up in my life, without question, were the times that I started checking the foundation. I started talking to the Lord. I started making sure things were sure. I started making sure things were okay. I started asking Him questions and finding out why this and why that and what about this and what about that. It was a strange sort of a thing that I began to realize that tribulation in my life caused me to be closer to the Lord than any time things were going good. And I began to understand why Paul said, we glory in tribulation. Because Paul realizes, you know what? When I'm having tribulation, my eyes are focused on the author and finisher of my faith. I'm grabbing a hold and hanging on to the foundation. And you know what? During those times, I'm not worried about everything and everybody else. My mind is just on Him. And if you're going to have that kind of relationship, you're going to have to dig deep. You're not going to be able to just scratch the surface. You're not going to be able to just go around and say, well, it's just good to be saved. Well, it's just good to be saved. Well, it's good to be saved. When you get in a storm, just being good to be saved don't help you much. You need to know some things about the Lord Jesus Christ, about your foundation. Now, here's the problem. The problem is that we have a tendency to add some things to the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the rock. We dig deep and get to know the truth and those kind of things and build upon it. But notice that this individual here, the disobedient one in verse number 49, The Bible says, but he that heareth and doeth not is like a man without a foundation. Without a what? Without a foundation. Built a house upon the earth. So what he does there is, is he likens the individual who chooses to do things his own way as a man without a foundation. Now, I don't know about you, but let me ask you this question tonight. If you were going to pay somebody, say, oh, I don't know, three, four hundred thousand dollars to build you a house, okay? three four hundred thousand dollars are going to build you a house and you went out there one day and there's the dirt and the grass and all that other kind of stuff and they got boards laid out here and they're starting to put up walls and stuff like that and you know they've already got a roof dried in and you walk in there and you open go through the front door and you're You know, as you're doing your thing, you're going, well, wait, wait, wait, isn't there something missing? No, no, no, isn't this pretty, man? You've got the walls, you know, we're going to put nice stucco and brickwork out here. We're going to have a roof, we're going to have beautiful windows in it and everything, and you'll have a beautiful lawn out front and some trees and all that, and you're going to say, well, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, just a second now, wait, wait, isn't there something missing here? Now, you know what? You say to yourself, well, preacher, that's just common sense. You'd be suing them for everything they were worth because they're supposed to put the foundation down first. You know what happens? A lot of Christians get convinced that now that they're saved, that they're supposed to hurry up and get the walls up and get the roof on, get the landscaping in, get the place decorated and so on and so forth. The storm comes and right off the foundation she goes. And they're still saved. You know why? Because you've got to learn some things about the foundation. It takes some time to pour it. Now, your salvation is sure, but you don't know about that until you go through some trouble with it. The Lord right here likens the foolish man who hears the things, he's listening, but then he doesn't do anything with what he hears. You know what he says? That individual is a foolish man because I'm telling him how to build his house and what will anchor him, what will secure him during a time of a storm, but he's not interested in hearing what I have to say and applying it, and it is the same as having a house with no foundation. Now, on the outside, that house looks like any other house. Unless you go inside, you can't tell it from any other house. On the outside, it's got the garage door and the windows and it's got all of the trimming and the dressing and the paint and the gutters and the roof and if you drive by it, you would have no way when you drove by that house that that thing was not anchored in a foundation, unless you walked inside. The only way you would know it is, is let a Ike or Katrina or Hugo or one of those fellows, a Floyd, come by, and all of a sudden you're going to see these houses still standing, and you're going to see that house flattered in a pancake, and you're going to go, well, I wonder what happened? And you walk over there where that house was standing, and you go, well, no wonder it came down, man, there was no foundation. You know what happens to Christians? You hear it, but you don't apply it. And it's the same as not having a foundation. Now, I'm not questioning your salvation. I'm not retreading you and all that. But after you're saved, the same thing applies. If you want a house that's going to stand in the time of the storm, when God speaks to you through His Holy Bible, if He speaks to you and you hear it, but you don't apply those things, it's the same as not having a foundation. And therefore, the simplicity of the message is, when the storm comes, and the rain falls, and the wind blows, when that stream begins to swell, and comes over its banks, and hits that house, you know what happens? The house falls, and you're a wreck. And you know what the Lord's saying? It's time to rebuild your house, and this time, instead of building wood, hay, and stubble, make sure it's gold, silver, and precious stones. You're putting the wrong thing on the foundation, because you're hearing it. Now, Christian, we have a problem. Our problem is we get dull of hearing. Our problem is we get accustomed to it. Our problem is we get used to it. We know it all already. We've heard all the passages preached already. We already understand the basic Bible doctrine and all that. And we get very accustomed to the way that it's delivered. We're very accustomed to what's going to be delivered. We have preconceived notions about it. and we take the stuff sort of for granted, so we hear it, but we don't apply it, and then you know what happens? A little bit of rift happens, a little bit of trouble happens, something minor, something that don't amount to a hill of beans in eternity. I mean, it don't amount to nothing, and somebody's got their nose out of joint, and their house has been blown down and it's floating downstream, and everybody's wondering, well, what happened? Well, what happened? It's just like they didn't have a foundation, because they heard it, but they didn't do anything with it. Now, I'll ask you a question tonight. How's your foundation? Now, I know your foundation's sure in Jesus Christ with your salvation, but if you put something between Him and your building, have you got some wood, hay and stubble in the way? You know what happens if you put wood, hay and stubble in the way? Now, I'm not a builder. You understand that. I'm dangerous around power tools and stuff. I'm okay with a paintbrush because you can't do much but not around carpet. I'm terrible with a paintbrush around carpet. If there's paint to get on carpet, I'll get it on the carpet. I mean, if I'm going to paint just like a... touch up a little spot on the wall and there's carpet there, I'm going to get paint on the carpet. So you've got to get a drop cloth, you've got to cover all the furniture, you know, get a hazmat suit on and all that kind of stuff. For me to get out a little tiny paintbrush and touch up a thing, I just, I don't know, there's something about me and paint and that's because I hate to do it. But let me ask you a question. There have been times in your life where you're just sort of kind of cruising through life and cruising through life and you think everything's running along pretty good and all of a sudden a little wind starts to blow and the house sort of shudders just a smidgen, you know. And the next thing you know the rain starts coming and it gets harder and it gets harder but now she's holding pretty good. And all of a sudden that flash flood comes. And you find yourself floating downstream, and here you've got wood, hay, and stubble that's been knocked off the foundation, but on top of that wood, hay, and stubble is gold, silver, and precious stones. Guess what happens to the gold, silver, and precious stones? It goes the way of the wood, hay, and stubble because it's on the wrong foundation. That's why he says in Luke chapter 7, built on earth.