Good morning. If you have not already, I ask that you turn to Luke chapter six. Luke chapter six. We're going to be concluding our sermon on the plane that we've been in for several weeks now. So Luke chapter six is where we'll be in just a moment. There is an old tale that is full of wisdom for those who are able to discern and to seek divine truths from secular stories. This is a story that many of us have heard, a tale that many of us are familiar with, and it has lessons that people have associated with it, lessons such as hard work and preparation, wise planning, the consequences of being lazy and taking shortcuts. And this tale is none other than the Three Little Pigs. It's a tale that I think often reminds us of the importance of some of those things that we were just mentioning. And one of the lessons that is often taught from this story is the importance of planning and preparing so that your hard work pays off. Right? Nobody wants to work for something so hard and then get to the end and not see any benefit or fruit from it. Could you imagine working through your week and then not getting a paycheck? You want the fruit of your labor, do you not? And so this is a story that is often used to teach children the importance of hard work and laboring and building with intention and using wisdom in how you plan to build. And as the story goes, you have this one pig who built his house out of brick, out of a sturdy material so that it would be able to withstand the wolf's attacks and that he would be able to not be eaten. And the other two little pigs, of course, in the story, one built a house out of straw, one built a house out of sticks, and their houses didn't last. The wolf came and destroyed it easily, and they had to take shelter in the third pig's house because his house was made of bricks, a sturdy, strong material. Now listen, it's a silly story, and I, I doubt that it's going to be instrumental in probably any child's theological development, but it does point us towards the same concepts that we see in our passage today. The idea of building with the right materials, of building on a firm foundation, of building something that is not going to be destroyed easily, something that's not going to collapse when the wolf comes. If you look in our passage, what you'll see is that Jesus, as he's approaching the end of his sermon on the plains, he concludes it by emphasizing the importance of obeying his words by contrasting two illustrations of building a house. And so that's what we're going to be looking at today. And again, this passage is familiar with us. Maybe some of us are more familiar with Matthew's account in Matthew chapter seven, where you see the house that is built on the rock and the house that is built on the sand. But this is the same account that is being given, or as we have said before, we are approaching the Sermon on the Plain as a separate sermon from the Sermon on the Mount, but this is the similar content that we see in both. And so as we look in this passage, I want us to see what Jesus is emphasizing, the importance of obedience to Him. Stand with me, if you would, as we read God's Word. Our focus today is going to be in verses 46 through 49, but I want to go back up to verse 37 and begin there. So starting in verse 37, and do not judge, and you will not be judged. And do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. And he also spoke a parable to them. Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil, for his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart. Now why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock. And when a flood occurred, the river burst against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who heard and did not do accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation, and the river burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great. Father, sanctify us in the truth. Your word is truth. Amen. You may be seated. So Jesus begins his conclusion to the Sermon on the Plain with a rhetorical question. And I love rhetorical questions. And so I wanna take a moment and examine some rhetorical questions that we've seen already in Luke that Jesus has used. But when we see these kinds of questions, we need to recognize, we need to realize that the answer is supposed to be obvious. It should be assumed, right? The answer to rhetorical questions should be clear to us. As we hear the question being asked, we should be able to immediately in our minds understand the point that is being made. I mean, when people give rhetorical questions, they're wanting to make a point. They're wanting to get you to think about what is being said. They're wanting you to comprehend some subject. Why else would you ask a rhetorical question? See what I did there? So, we have rhetorical questions and these are given to make a point. And so we wanna look at Jesus's rhetorical question, but again, let's go back and examine some rhetorical questions that he has already given and let's see how he's using these to prove a point. Look back, if you would, staying in the Sermon on the Plain, look back, if you would, at verses 32 through 34. In verse 32, of course, this is the section where we are told to love our enemies. And in verse 32, you see Jesus asking, he says, and if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. Now, just consider what he asked and then what he said. He did not give an answer to the question, did he? He asked the question and then he gave an explanation to the answer, which was supposed to be assumed. Look at it again. And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? The obvious answer, none. Why? Because even sinners love those who love them. And then he goes on and he asked two more questions. Verse 33. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? No answer, but then an explanation. For even sinners do the same. And then finally, verse 34, and if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Again, these rhetorical questions are supposed to be clearly understood. In other words, you should be able to read that and say, well, there is no benefit to that. There is no credit to that. Why? And then he explains. But these are questions he's asking to make a point. And so Jesus is making these points and he does it again. Look down at verse 39. We'll look at this again a little bit later. But verse 39, it says, he spoke a parable to them. Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? Now, just to demonstrate, I'll let you answer. Can a blind man guide a blind man? No. Will they not both fall into the pit? Yes. It's obvious. It's obvious, Jesus is asking these questions to make a point, to teach his audience something that they need to learn. But first, before we get back into verse 39, I wanna look again at the question that Jesus is asking in verse 46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? What's the clear answer? What's the obvious assumption? What are we to be thinking about? There's an assumption that is being made in this question, and that underlying assumption is that whoever you are calling Lord, you ought to obey. You ought to be obeying the one that you are calling Lord. Why else would you call them Lord? I mean, the very idea of Lord has this idea of master and slave, of master and servant. It has this idea of being subordinate to someone and following their orders. And so they are calling Jesus Lord. I don't think they're calling him Lord in the divine sense, but rather I think they're calling him Lord in this respectful way of addressing a teacher. Now, later there is certainly this idea of calling him Lord in the divine sense. I don't know that that's happening here, but they are calling him Lord as though he is this respectable teacher whom they are following. And if that is the case, why aren't you obeying me? There are individuals then, it would seem, who are calling Jesus Lord, and yet they are not obeying His words. Which is interesting because when you remember the context of the Sermon on the Plain, who is He addressing? Immediately after appointing the 12, he comes down from the mountain onto this level place, and he turns his eyes towards his disciples, towards the 12, and he is immediately addressing them, and then it opens up a little bit later, and it says that he was saying to everyone, but these are all individuals who are following Jesus, who have claimed to be disciples, not just the 12, but people who have, who have been following Jesus and sitting under his teaching and they are calling him Lord and yet they do not do what he's saying. And what is he saying? Well, you could look back through the Sermon on the Plain. I think that's the immediate context, right? Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? In other words, you can look back at what he has just been teaching in the Sermon on the Plain about loving your enemies and judging rightly. And you can say that clearly he is talking about this. I think it could be expanded, but I think that's the immediate context. And so we come to this and we say, okay, well, if you aren't obeying His words, if you aren't following Him, then who are you obeying? Right, they're calling Him Lord, but they're not obeying Him. They're not doing what He says. So what are they doing? Who are they following? Who are they obeying? I think it's extremely important for us to know who it is that we are obeying, who it is that we are following. And that's where we get back up to verse 39. So looking back at verse 39, can a blind man guide a blind man? Of course not. Now, Rob covered these passages a few weeks ago from the perspective of judging rightly. And then he said in that sermon that we were going to be coming back and looking at these. And so what I want us to do then is I want us to put our lenses of obedience on as we look at this. We looked at this with reference to judging, but now I want us to look at this with reference to obedience. Because again, you could look at this passage with the idea of judging, and you can say, well, can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? And then immediately what is following too with this idea of having a log in your eye that you need to take out so that you can clearly see to help your brother, well, that is the idea that you could look at this passage of a blind man guiding a blind man. Well, if I'm gonna have a log in my eye, I need to take that out so that I can see. so that I'm no longer blindly leading other people. I'm helping them see the sin that is in their life. So yes, you can look at this from the aspect of judging yourself rightly and then judging others in a sense of seeing sin that is in their life and helping them to overcome that through the power of the Spirit by obeying the words of Christ. But if you look at this in the sense of obedience, What do we see? Can a blind man guide a blind man? I want you to just think about how foolish it would be to follow someone who was blind. In the imagery that we have here, the idea is that they don't know where they're going. So from the perspective of obedience, why would you be obeying someone or following someone who wasn't leading you down the right path. And we see the consequences of obeying those who are not leading you in the light of God's truth, because the very next rhetorical question that Jesus asks there is, will they not both fall into a pit? Yes. Listen, if you are not obeying Christ and you instead are obeying and following someone else who's not leading you in the paths of righteousness, then you are ultimately being led towards destruction. You are being led towards doom and damnation. Therefore, know who it is that you are obeying. Know who you are following. Why, why is that important? Why should you know? Look at verse 40. It's not just that you will experience ruin or destruction, but verse 40 says, a student is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. So then, what would happen if you were following an evil teacher? What would happen if you were following a false teacher? What would happen if you followed Christ? Do you see the implication? If you're following someone who is astray themselves, will you not also go astray? If you follow someone who is in love with sin, will you not develop a same desire for sin? If you follow Christ, will you not become more like Christ? If you are calling Christ Lord, then you ought to be obeying His words. You ought to be doing what he says, because that is how you become Christ-like. Believers have the Spirit of God within us, and it's leading us to become more like Christ. And I think that's exactly what Paul is getting at in Philippians. Look over there if you would, Philippians chapter two. I'm mostly staying in our passage today, but I do want to look at a couple other places. Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, let's look at verses 12 through 13. So then, Paul writes, so then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Now, to clarify, Paul is not calling you to work for your salvation. I want that to be clear. Paul is not telling you to work and do good in order to be saved. He's not saying work for your salvation. He is saying to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. There is an important distinction there because we could never work enough or do enough good to earn a right standing with God. Your righteousness that you think you might have is just filthy rags when laid before the holiness of God. And so we have to recognize that. He's not telling us to work for our salvation. Rather, he says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. So before I go into that too far, I mean, I'm in Philippians now. To clarify, maybe you're here and you think you've got it all right. You think you've got your life under control. You think the scales are tipped in your favor. You think when you get to heaven and you're there, you're gonna stand before God and he's gonna look at your life and he's gonna see, does the bad outweigh the good? Does the good outweigh the bad? And you think, my good, I think it's up there. I think the scales will be tipped in my favor. Maybe you're here and you're thinking like that. You say to yourself, well, I'm not that bad. I do a lot of good. I volunteer. I help people. I even go to church. Look, I'm here this morning. I even call him Lord. I think when I get to heaven, he'll let me in. Listen, that's not how it works. Again, that is not how it works. It is not anything that you can do. You cannot be good enough. You cannot earn enough righteousness to be justified before God. It's not as though your obedience, which is commanded of Christians, but it's not as though your obedience produces a right standing before God. That is not what is taught in scripture. It is nothing you do. It is everything that Christ did. Therefore, trust in Christ. Trust in the one who paid the price for sinners on Calvary. Trust in the one who has done the work and received his righteousness. It will cover you so that when God looks at you in the judgment, he will not see your filthy rags, but rather the pure white righteousness of Christ. Don't think that you have it under control. Please, turn to Christ. Trust in him. Philippians. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Listen, it is only through God that you are able to have the ability to obey Him. It is through the Spirit working within you that produces those things, right? And so we are held accountable for what we do. That's the working out our salvation. But the reason that we obey is because it is God who is at work within us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Flip to Ephesians, one last passage. I feel like I need to hit this. Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, should be back just a few pages from where you were. Ephesians chapter two, very familiar passage. Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Again, it's not what you do, right? Let me pause here. It's not what you do at all. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that you can be reconciled to God, all right? Back to verse eight. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. In other words, nothing that you do so that no one may boast. But then notice this next verse, and this is where we get back to our point. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Do you see that? In other words, the working out of your salvation in fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work within you, is you doing what you were created to do. You are obeying God and doing good works because that's why you were saved. God redeemed you, not so that you could sit around and do what you feel like doing, or so that you could come and grace us with your presence and then disappear and not have anything else to do with the kingdom of God. You were saved so that you would live for Christ. You were saved for obedience to Christ. Therefore, as believers, we ought to be obeying. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Back to Luke chapter six. We are becoming more and more like Christ as we live a life of obedience. The student, when fully trained, will be like his teacher. This is why it is important to know who it is that you are following. This is why it is important to know who you are obeying, because you will become like your teacher. So if you are calling Jesus Lord, then obey Him. But how many of us sitting right now, I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, it'd be everybody, how many of us right now are not living in full, complete obedience to God? We have areas in our lives that we struggle with sin, do we not? Each of us have areas where we think that we can master that own area, but I am pleading with you, Lean on Christ. If you're calling him Lord, then lean on him, as we'll see, right? He's our foundation. Lean on him to be the one who can help you obey. That's the underlying assumption in this question, is that if you're calling Jesus Lord, then you ought to be obeying him. But then he goes on to illustrate this by contrasting two ways of building, right? He first gives us a positive illustration. He gives us a positive illustration. And in this first illustration, we see that the one who hears and does Jesus's words builds on a firm foundation. Notice verse 46. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you whom he is like. Now, do you see the progression there? You have those who have come, you have those who have heard, and then do, right? This is a distinction that we'll see with the next illustration, so I wanna make it now. I'll make it again in a little bit. But you have this progression of people who come, they hear, and they do. Right? They come, they hear, and they do. And it's that last part, that they do what they have heard, that distinguishes this illustration from the negative illustration we'll look at in a little while. But many people come to Jesus. Many people hear Jesus's words. There are who knows how many people hearing what Jesus is speaking and teaching right now. So there are many people who come, there are many people who hear, but only some do what he says. And Jesus tells us what that person is like. Jesus said, he is like a man building a house who dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock. It is the obedience to Christ's words that forms the foundation for Christian living. It is obedience to Christ's words that form the foundation for Christian living. Listen, I have seen a lot of get godly quick schemes. You've probably seen these in bookstores, right? You've probably come across books titled this way or articles titled this way, seven ways to grow in Christian character or 10 steps that help you be more godly, three, excuse me, three ways of being sanctified. There's a variety of schemes that you'll see, and I'm not saying that they're all bad. Some of them are trash. But I'm not saying that they're all bad, because there are some who are giving you practical wisdom from scripture. But might I suggest one foolproof method for becoming Christ-like? Obey Christ. Obey Christ. It's amazing how much you can grow in your relationship with God. It's amazing how much you can grow to be more like Christ and to be strengthened in your faith when you submit to God in obedience, when you actually do what he says to do. Again, hearing and doing is likened to building a house on a firm foundation. Now, why is it a firm foundation? Well, the text says that it was laid on the rock. You see that? Says that, excuse me, he is like a man building a house who dug and went deep and laid a foundation on the rock. Now, you can lay a foundation that isn't firm. All right, I mean, for instance, have you ever had problems with your foundation? I know that there are some amongst us who have, right? You have an issue, and man, it causes so many problems, right? Those little things in the foundation that happen that make it start to shift and you see the cracks start to appear, and next thing you know, it starts affecting the whole structure. You see places where your walls are cracking and things are separating. because the foundation wasn't laid on solid ground. So many foundations have cracks because they start to settle into the ground, which isn't as solid as it seems. But the man in this parable says he dug deep. He went down deep and he got to the sturdiest, most solid thing that he could find, which was the rock, and there he laid his foundation. Now, I love this imagery because it conveys the idea that God's word is the most sure and reliable foundation in the world. There is nowhere greater to go than God's word. When you need wisdom, when you need Insight, when you need help, encouragement, when you need to know how to handle the various trials and tribulations that are coming at you, come to God's word. And that leads me to the next part of the verse where we see that the house is unshakable because it is well-built. Verse 48, in the latter part, it says, and when a flood occurred, The river burst against that house and could not shake it because it had been well-built. Temptations come, trials come, hardships come. You will suffer in life, right? These are difficulties that we are all familiar with, that we all face, and we will continue to face in life. You will constantly battle temptations in your life until you are renewed in glory. You will constantly feel the effects of living in a fallen world and the hardships and the suffering that come because of that. You will constantly be exposed to these things. The question is, how can you persevere in the midst of it all? How can you press on when life seems to be crumbling down all around you? By doing what Christ said. By being founded upon the rock. The hymn we sang a little bit ago, How Firm a Foundation, there's a couple other verses in that hymn that I love, and I wanna share one of them with you right now. But that idea of how firm a foundation we have, right? And then the hymn goes on and it says, when through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow. For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. Listen, when sorrows come, and hit us when trials and suffering hit us, if we are founded on the rock, we can endure because Christ is there with us as our foundation, keeping us steady, holding us firm. Of course, the song ends, the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. What a beautiful picture in the hymn that we have of the truth of this passage. The beauty of having all of God's revealed word is that we can also go elsewhere to see how this expands, right? So I want you to flip, probably the last place I'll have you flip. I'm not gonna, actually, I'm not gonna hold you to that. I might, we'll see. Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, the beauty of having God's revealed word is that we can look at Luke and see what Jesus is teaching in the context of Luke, but we can also come to Matthew where we see a very similar teaching by Jesus, I believe on a separate occasion, but we see an expanded idea in Matthew's account. So Matthew chapter seven, look at verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, do you see the connection immediately? Why do you call me Lord, Lord? Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Now, just pause there. Luke presents this teaching of calling Christ Lord and not doing what he says, and he says the one who does do what he says is like the one who has built his house on this solid rock. That's where he's laid the foundation. And we see this benefit of, okay, well, there's this practical implication of whenever I am obedient to Christ, it helps me through the trials of life. It helps me to have hope and encouragement as suffering comes my way, as I'm facing all the hardships of life. So there's this current relative practical application that we see in Luke, but in Matthew, we see eternal benefit. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Do you see that? This is dealing with eternity. But he who does, right, the one who has heard and done, the one who has went down, dug deep, and laid foundation on the rock, who has built a house well and it has become unshakable, This person has eternal benefit, why? Because they will enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the beauty of that is that you can't be shaken out of that, right? No one can pluck you out of the Father's hand. He holds you firmly, He holds you in His grasp, and nothing can snatch you away. We see this eternal aspect in Matthew, but we also see it elsewhere in Luke. So flip back to Luke. I told you I shouldn't hold you accountable to that. Go to Luke chapter eight. We'll be covering this in a few weeks, but in Luke chapter eight, look at verse 19. It says, and his mother and brothers came to him, that is Jesus, And they were unable to get to him because of the crowd. And it was reported to him, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wishing to see you. But he answered and said to them, my mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it. Who hear the word of God and do it. So then those who hear the word of God and do it are in the family of God. They are brothers and sisters of Christ. That's eternal language, right? If you are in the family of God, you are one of God's redeemed. You are one of the elect. You are saved for eternity. You are entering into the kingdom of heaven. You will be glorified one day and you will rule and reign with Christ. And so there's this familial language associated with those who hear and do, which again, shows us the eternal implications of hearing God and obeying Him. Mind you, they are not in the family of God because they obey God's word. I've addressed this already, but to be clear again, Rather, obedience flows from being in God's family, right? It's not the other way around. Because we are in Christ, we live in obedience to Him. We don't live in obedience so that we can be in Christ. That's getting it reversed. But because we are in Christ, we live in obedience. This is illustrated back in chapter six of Luke. Look at verse 43. Verse 43, for there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil, for his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart. Now, real quick, let me just say that fruit is assumed, okay? Fruit is assumed here. I don't want you to think that you can be a Christian and live a fruitless life. That's not in Scripture. Right? Fruit is assumed. You will either have good fruit or bad fruit. I like the way Rob has worded it before, stink fruit, right? Stink fruit. In other words, you can look at it and you can say, that's not right. Something's wrong with that. But consider the root system of the tree. Consider the roots. They are like its foundation. And when the foundation is good, the tree is good and the fruit is good. Do you see that? It would be foolish to say that the fruit produced the roots, wouldn't it? You don't see the fruit and think, oh, look at how that fruit hanging in the air grew around and into the ground. That's not the way it goes. The roots are in the ground and the tree sprouts forth and produces fruit. And if it's good fruit, you see that. And if it's bad fruit, you see that. The order matters because I don't wanna be heard as saying that your obedience makes you justified before God. That's not true at all, but your obedience is required by God. I'm hammering so much on obedience, I just don't want to get that confused. You must live a life of obedience. Your right standing before God because of the work of Christ is the reason that you obey. Verse 45 demonstrates that again. The treasure of one's heart is determined by the foundation he has laid. If you are in Christ, then good will flow from the good treasure of your heart. All of this is pointing to the reality that a Christian's life should be marked by obedience. And obedience to Christ is evident in fruitful living. So maybe you need to look at yourself. Maybe you need to think, am I living in obedience to Christ? Is my life marked by obedience to Christ? I'm not saying you have to have perfect obedience. You can't have that right now. You can't perfectly obey. Only Christ, if we could do that, Man, what would the need for heaven be, right? What future glory would await us? But you can live in obedience because you have the power of the Spirit working within you, but you need to rely upon that foundation that is in your heart. Or maybe the second illustration is a better description of you. Look at verse 49. But the one who heard and did not do accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great. Now in this negative illustration, we see that the one who hears and doesn't do is building without any foundation. And again, what is the distinguishing factor between this illustration and the previous one? This one says that the one who heard, but did not do accordingly, right? Previous is those who come and hear and do, and now you have those who have come and heard, but they're not doing. If you are living day in and day out without giving thought to obedience to Christ, then take heed. If you are here listening, and you've heard what I've been saying, and you've heard the passages that we've been reading, but your life has not been marked by obedience to Christ, your life has not been marked, as we saw in James, by being a doer of the word, then this is a serious warning for you. Because the text says that you are like a man who has built a house on the ground without any foundation. And we've already noted the great benefit of having Christ as our foundation. Not only does that help us to withstand the trials and the tribulations that come in life, but it also guarantees and secures that hope, right? Being rooted and founded in Christ, being united with our Savior, gives us that eternal hope And so we see that amazing benefit of being Christ and having Him as our foundation, so then we can also understand the tragedy, the deep tragedy of not having any foundation at all. We ought to immediately recognize the foolishness of such a life that is constructed on nothing. What is there to support you When trials come, what is there to help you persevere through the temptations that you're going to face? What is there to help you overcome the suffering that you are facing in life? What hope do you have? The answer is nothing, you have none. And that's why the verse continues, right? And the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great. The house collapsed and the ruin, it wasn't minor, the ruin wasn't insignificant, the ruin was great. Now, contrary-wise to the previous point, without any foundation, temptation will overcome you. Hardships, trials, suffering will overwhelm you. Despair, hopelessness, despondency await those who have no such foundation as Christ. Now, sure, they might have a form of godliness. Sure, you might have a life that seems religious, but you're denying the very power of the godliness you say you profess. I think of Titus chapter one. You don't have to turn there. Titus chapter one, verse 16 says, they profess to know God. Isn't that what he says? You call me Lord, Lord. They profess to know God, Paul says to Titus, but by their works, they deny him. being detestable and disobedient and unfit for any good work. Again, look back at verses 43 through 45, just briefly. Again, you see that there's no bad tree which produces good fruit. So what does a bad tree produce then? Bad fruit. And that tree is gonna be known by it. You go to verse 45, in the latter half it says, the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. Now that sounds bad, and you might think that that's too extreme for you. I'm not an evil man, I don't have evil treasure stored up within my heart, and evil is not coming forth from me. You might think, I'm not fitting that description. But if you are not living a life of obedience to Christ, then that is you. Recognize then your need for a savior and turn from your sins. Before the rivers of judgment burst upon you, cling to Christ. Turn to Him, let Him be the rock upon which you build your life. Another hymn that I love, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Listen, for a believer, I want us to recognize that Christ is all. We don't need any more or any less than Christ, right? With Him as our foundation, we have all the hope and encouragement and help we could need. I dare not trust the sweetest frame. but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. A verse, some of this hymn that some of you may not know, I love it, it's not usually one that is sung. His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Can you say that? Can you say that about your life? Even for you as a believer, are you resting in Christ as you face life? Are you resting in Him and depending upon Him to help you to obey His words? When we consider the table that is before us, I'll hand this to Luke in just a moment so we can have the Lord's Supper, but when we consider the table that is before us, it reminds us of the sacrifice that Christ has made for sinners like you and me. And it was Christ's work on Calvary that laid the foundation for us to be reconciled with God. So are you trusting in Christ? If not, I plead with you, turn to him. And if you are resting in Christ, then be reminded of what Christ has done for us so that we can have the benefit of that firm foundation. Let us pray real quick. Father, we are grateful. We are grateful that you have seen fit to send your son into this world, to live a life of perfect obedience, Lord, obedience that we would never be able to achieve. He humbled himself in obedience to death, even death on a cross. And it's because of his sacrifice that we can be reconciled to you. So Father, I pray that we would be reminded of what you have done for us that you would help us as we go through this time of partaking of the elements. Lord, that we would remember the body and the blood that was broken and shed for sinners. Lord, I pray that we would also be reminded of that great day that is coming, where we will be able to feast with Christ again. We ask these things in your name, amen.