Those that have trusted Jesus, we have nothing else propping us up, folks. It is the glorious truth of the gospel that Jesus has provided in his death and resurrection all that we need for eternal life and cleansing from sin. He alone is our foundation. And that is how Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount this morning. So we're going to look at this together from Matthew chapter 7. The next couple weeks we'll have, again, the glorious theme of Christ's sacrifice and his resurrection to ponder. And then soon after that, I believe the Lord is leading me to start a study in Ephesians. And then after that, maybe Revelation. So we've got a plan in order here. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Jesus gives two ways, again, that dichotomy that was so common in Jewish thought. Two ways, two approaches. And Jesus makes it clear as he finishes up this beautiful Sermon on the Mount that we must be sure of our foundation because the temptation is to choose something other than Jesus to support us and to help us live our lives. I still remember the phrase from the saying from my old friend Ken Collier. He's a friend of Rand Hummel. He's been the director of the Wilds Christian Camps for many years. He said, only two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. And so there are only, as we finish again the Sermon on the Mount, two ultimate options for the basis of your life as well. And Jesus gives us two types of people in this illustration. That's the wise person and the foolish person. And I hope already that you've decided which person that you want to be. That word for foolish in this passage is really in the Greek, it means moron. Nobody wants to be a moron, folks. Nobody wants to be the foolish person. See, Bob agrees with me, I hope the rest of you do too. I've never actually met someone that says, you know, Pastor Brock, my goal in life is to be a fool, is to be the foolish person. I just love that role. Nobody would actually say that, right? Unless they were trying to get some laughs. But here Jesus isn't trying to go for any laughs. He's dead serious. Because soon he will give his life so that he can be our foundation. And he calls us to make sure that our foundation is sure. And the picture here is of two builders who want to build dwelling places in a sandy area. They want the seaside villa. Well, I guess if you consider the Sea of Galilee a real sea, it is kind of a big lake, but Jesus, as he finishes up this message, they are looking out, they're on a hill, they're looking out at the Sea of Galilee, and maybe there are some builders that they can see that are building some homes near that big lake, near Galilee. And so the illustration, like many of Jesus' illustrations, are literally within viewing distance of Jesus' audience. Again, probably a large following of disciples and some religious leaders. And so they're probably looking at the illustration of people building there, close to the water, And what's interesting about this area, you might think, because we know this story, so many of us know this story well. This is one of those that we teach in children's church all the time. We even have a song about it, right? The wise man built his house upon the rock, foolish man built his house upon the sand. And we hear that and we think, yeah, that foolish man, who builds their house on sand? That's just ridiculous. Of course they're foolish. Well, there's a little more depth to that because in actuality, during the hottest part of the year around the Sea of Galilee, the sand would bake and it would become very hard. And so it truly might be a temptation for those builders that didn't know as much as the experienced builders to look at the ground and say, this ground's hard enough. We can easily build a safe living quarters or something on this solid ground. So those people weren't entirely foolish and just demented, but they didn't have full knowledge. Because sooner or later, torrential rains would come. They always did in this area of the world. Torrential rains would come and just wipe out that sand. and therefore wipe out any dwelling that didn't have a better foundation than just that hardened sand. It might have even felt like concrete. Nothing can happen to this sand. And yet they were always a rainstorm away from disaster. That reminds me of living in Florida for many years. Some of you have heard, most of you have heard parts of my testimony, and when you hear me say that I lived in Florida for many years, that may be confusing because you probably also heard me say that I grew up in Michigan. Well, both are true. My family traditionally for, since the late or the early 1800s, has lived in the thumb of Michigan. I've been doing some some Investigating and been fascinated by the results you can do this as well. You know with modern tools You can find all about family histories, and it is very interesting to me anyway, and I had family that came over from the middle of England the Lancashire area and they came specifically to that area of Michigan to be farmers and So it was tradition for our family to have lived there a long time. And so that's, I was actually born in Davenport, Iowa, because my dad was going to college there. Then we came back and we lived in the Thumb area. Eventually then we moved to the other side of Michigan, closer to Indiana, south of Kalamazoo. Everybody knows where, well, you may not know where Kalamazoo is, but you've heard the name, I'm sure. And then went to high school there. And we got time for me to go to college and my parents were really kind of well carefully pushing a particular institution and It just happened to be this institution was in Florida It was becoming well known at the time and it was becoming rather large and they were building up lots of buildings maybe you've heard of Pensacola Christian College and And it also, among other things, was very affordable for my family that needed me to go to an affordable place, and the other places were not. And so my parents were like, yeah, this looks really good. Look, it's close. You can go to the beaches, and they have all these facilities and these wonderful things you can do. And they had a major I was interested in, so I ended up going down to Pensacola, Florida. But now that I think back, I think possibly my parents were also using that, not using me maybe per se, but they were using that as a springboard because soon after that, they also moved to Florida. I found out later that my dad had grown up in hard winters his whole life and he was just done with snow. Many of you can, well, in Maryland, can we really relate to that? I don't know. But if you've lived in Michigan or New Hampshire, you know. So difficult, and my dad was just done, so they went farther than what I had ever anticipated. They moved all the way to Miami, Florida. So coming home from Pensacola, I didn't get to see my friends anymore. I got to make brand new ones in a place that was really foreign to me. When you go from Michigan, which has miles and miles and miles of woods and hunting, and then you go to Miami, where there's barely three feet in between each modular home in that park where we were living, it's quite a shock. So my family enjoyed living in Miami. I never quite got used to it. When I graduated college, I ended up in Central Florida, a job there, and the Lord used that experience as a young man. Living in Central Florida was a lot of fun. close to Disney World, but he used that experience in my life to draw me to full-time ministry. Anyway, all of that to explain why I was in Florida for a few years. Then I went to seminary, God called me to seminary, that was in South Carolina, met my wife, and here we are in Maryland. One of the things I noticed about Florida, though, is when it rains, it truly is torrential, folks. In fact, it is the only place that I've ever lived where when the rain clouds come and the rain comes down, there was a couple times I was on a major highway and I had to literally pull over because I couldn't see almost inches in front of me. The rains were so torrential. Another thing about rain in Florida is it comes down, maybe those of you that have been to Florida, lived in Florida before, it ends rather quickly. It's just like this huge torrential storm and then after a couple minutes it's just gone, wow. Hurricanes as well, but the rains can be very destructive and torrential Well, that's the same sort of thing in the Middle East when the rains come I pray for rain many times They can be very destructive and so all that goes back to if you're going to build your house Near a body of water and it's on sand you had better know your foundation Jesus is using this to promote spiritual truths And he's asking each of us, much more even significant than our dwelling place or our vacation home, do each of us know for sure what our foundation for our life is built on? Or what our house is built on for our foundation in life? Do we know? Are we confident? Because folks, the answer to that question will literally determine your eternal future. And so then let's read these words together that we know so well. Matthew 7 24. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded. That's the key word on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. It really is a very simple illustration. The wise person obeys Jesus' words. because here the illustration is Jesus and his teachings as the rock. The foolish people refuse Jesus' words. And at the end of a message where the Savior of the world, where the Lord of eternity has been proclaiming spiritual truths, It is appropriate at the end to ask his audience, have you truly been listening? Have you been listening to my words? Because they are of the utmost importance to whether you will succeed or great will be the fall of your life. And so back to that verse 24, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them, there'll be wise people who built their house on the rock. And we see here, true hearing involves active obedience. What type of hearing is Jesus referring to here? Well, we need to understand that. There were a lot of disciples there that day that heard Jesus' words and were tuned into them, probably very carefully. If they could have, they probably were taking notes. They didn't have that ability back then, but they were trying to remember the best they could. But what we find out is later on in the Gospels that many of those disciples would leave Jesus because his teachings were too hard. and they would abandon him, and Jesus would, as you know, be down to 12, and then after that, after Ron hit the time of his death, he'd be down to 11. And so you have to ask yourself, did these disciples that are with him while he's teaching the Sermon on the Mount, were they really hearing? And the answer is no. They didn't really hear the truths because so many of them would end up choosing the destruction of disobeying and not following after Jesus' teaching. And so hearing here is more than just listening. It's important to listen. We ought to all be good listeners, right? We know that. There's nothing more frustrating when you're talking to people, whether it's in a group or one-on-one conversation, and you get the idea, especially in a conversation of a few people, that some folks just are tuned out. They're looking at ya, they're acting like they're listening, but their mind is a million miles away. And I have to admit, sometimes as a pastor, I'm guilty of that too. We can look like we're really listening in intent and not following in actuality in our hearts the speaker at all. See, Jesus is not saying just listen to my words, but he's saying understand and obey and heed what I'm saying to you. All these principles, all these things that I've taught you, on this hill near the Sea of Galilee. You need to listen to it all. And then you will have your house built on the rock. It's more than listening, but it's acquiescence to these truths and it's building your life on them and saying these things that Jesus have said are true and right. And I will stake my claim on the truths of the words of Jesus and I will build my house, my life on this rock. See, Jesus is saying here that you haven't truly listened and heard. if you don't obey. It's really that simple, folks. And he says, when the storms of life come, those torrential rains, like those rains I experienced in Florida, those hurricanes that can wipe out so much, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall. What are storms that you are going through in your life right now? I've had this conversation with so many of you, particularly at funerals, but when very difficult things happen, many times we'll talk together and we'll say something like this, I don't know how people that don't have Jesus in their life, how they make it through. What is their foundation? And folks, the simple answer is they can't. Their lives are filled with hurt and pain and misery, and they're headed toward eternal destruction because they've rejected the one foundation that will hold them through the really terrible storms, the ones that you just sense want to beat you down. Have you ever had people or situations in your life where it just, it's constant pressure and you feel like, man, I just, this situation just feels like it wants to overwhelm me and just beating me down and I'm so weary. And yet, when you go to God's word and when you pray, Jesus gives you the help and the encouragement you need to carry on and work and make it through, through following after him. That kind of living is what Jesus is referring here to. And so then he says, he's going to say here in a minute, that those that hear but don't really hear are actually the foolish people. Are moronic. And I'm not trying to be insulting. I'm using words that Jesus is using here. True hearing involves active obedience. And it's active obedience on the truths of Christ, on Christ himself. Who is the rock then? Let's be clear. Jesus is the rock that will keep us stable in the storms of life. Oh, Jesus is the rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm. I should have picked that song for our last song, but I picked another one. But that's a good one, and it reminds us exactly what Jesus is saying here. an assault of problems, torrential rain and flooding that will prove whether that foundation, whether that structure has been built on a solid foundation or not. Folks, why does God allow us to go through very, very hard things at times? One of those reasons really is to prove to yourself and to the world around you that your foundation is truly built on Christ. when we go through terrible things and hard things and yet our lives remain confident and stable and strong. People look at our lives and they say, where's that power, where's that strength coming from? And we can say, oh, it's not me. It's because my foundations are Jesus Christ and the truths of God's word. It is Jesus that is enabling me to get through, to be stable, to be strengthened. It's nothing I could do on my own. So the solid foundation for our lives is Jesus. It's Jesus' teachings. It's everything that Jesus has just taught in this Sermon on the Mount. And really today, it's all of God's Word. Jesus is described in the first chapter of John as the Word. the expression of his heavenly father. And folks, we have in scripture all of God's word, and so we have a complete foundation and basis for which to build our lives and to be stable no matter what we face. It's all in the scriptures. And ultimately it's in the gospel. So is your life staked? Have you staked all? Have you staked your claim on the saving truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Or are you counting and hoping on anything else? So often we can listen to God's word being preached or taught, and we can go away saying, that was inspiring. That was nice. And yet not heed the truths at all. walk away and forget them. And they have little meaning to us. Many times on a daily basis or throughout the week we can go to God's word and we can read God's word and still walk away and not be changed at all because maybe as believers we're not remembering who our true foundation is that's in Christ and how important God's word is or maybe Jesus isn't our foundation at all And so God's word isn't very important to us. How are you doing in midst the trials you're facing? Are you facing financial hardships? Have you faced the death of a loved one? Has somebody that's been close to you, that you depended upon, have they failed? Have they acted in such a way that you've lost trust in them? Someone that you really counted on? Folks, what do we do when we go through those very difficult things? If your life is founded on Jesus, He will get you through. No matter what the torrential rainstorms, no matter what beats down upon your life, your commitment, your relationship with Jesus will get you through. But all of those who have trusted in other things really are refusing Jesus' words. And so foolishness is ultimately a foolish life. Live is the rejection of God's wisdom that Jesus has given to us in God's word. It isn't enough folks, even to listen attentively to the Bible and say at the end, well, that was good. That was nice. Thank you, pastor Brock, for that. Now, many of you do that and I'm thankful for that and you're encouraging to me, but it comes from hearts that have really been affected. And I'm so appreciate that. But if the Bible merely sounds, if the truths of Jesus Christ merely sounds like pleasant words, but they're not really affecting our lives, then we really are rejecting those truths. and we are foolishly going toward eternal destruction. The real test then comes not in listening or just hearing with our ears the truths of God's word, but the real test is what we're going to do with what we hear. Are you going to go from here and apply these truths to your life? We heard some wonderful truths last week from our friend Rand and many of you said how effective it was. Are we going forth and applying the truths and actually using them in our lives? Or do we just walk away and in effect, we leave God out of our life entirely and we ignore him? My family recently, we got to go to DC. We've been wanting to take some, now that we're back, living in Maryland, we wanted to take the boys to see some of the Smithsonian museums. You know, they're free. Why would you want to miss out on that? And so we drove, yes, we did drive all the way down. We found a parking garage that had an extra spot. We reserved our spot ahead of time. And we went to the Museum of History. And also, we got to the archives. The archives, actually, we went to first. And we got to see the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence and all these things. And it was exciting. But then the lady, when we were done with that, the lady said, oh, there's an exhibit over here that you'd be really interested in. It's one of the most interesting exhibits that I've been to in a while. I'm like, oh, well, let's go see that. And it was about coal mining, the history of coal mining and coal miners in this country, in West Virginia and all kinds of other places, and how their sacrifice and what they did helped provide electricity and heat the homes of Americans all over the country. It was fascinating. because they had a photographer that went specifically for, I think, a couple decades, and chronicled the lives of these minor families, and how they lived. And that was actually really enlightening, because you had some of these families who worked for really solid, good companies that made sure that the people that were working for them were well-housed. And their houses might not be huge, but they were nice-looking. Inside, there were modern furnishings, and you could just tell that they were built Structurally sound and they were built on a good foundation and those people were living lives that were successful for the most part and what their the mining company was providing for them was the basis for them to live lives that were successful but then it showed pictures of other mining companies who really didn't seem to care about their employees and would leave them many times to live in almost shacks and In fact, these pictures showed, as you looked at these pictures, it was almost like people had built houses out of cardboard. And you look at a woman in a kitchen as she's making dinner for the kids, and the wallpaper is just newspapers. And they're doing the best they can just to protect themselves from the elements. And it was quite obvious that these people were not being cared for and not being taken care of, and that their foundation was very questionable at best. And then one picture I saw actually had one of the pillars under the house was a square pillar of bricks Which if you've seen houses built back then that was commonplace but the really disturbing thing was the top part of that had slowly moved away from the bottom part and So it was kind of just holding together by a couple bricks on top of a couple other bricks and it looked like it could fall apart and the whole house could go under in any moment and And these people had to live this way because the people taking care of them did not provide the right foundation, but they were desperate. Folks, that is what living life without following Jesus and without following God's word is like for anyone who decides to reject God. You're living a life where literally your foundation could crumble anytime and folks, it has eternal consequences. Even worse than that picture that I saw. See, he also points out here that choosing the way of our own wisdom. Rather than Jesus Christ. Is the wrong way to go? Choose your own way and the fall of your life will be great. Let's look at that second part. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. It truly was a great catastrophe indeed. Folks, we only have a few more minutes. And as I think on this passage, I think of so many lives that God had me minister to and gave me opportunity to point to Christ. And many followed after Christ, and things haven't been perfect, but they've seen God work in their lives, and their foundation is on Christ, and so they're getting along, even during the most difficult circumstances, because they've chosen, they have the right foundation. But there are others, I can tell you, even as I think now, they've already fallen, and I can describe over their lives, great was the fall of it. Folks, we don't want that description under the caption of our lives. We don't want people at the end of our lives to say, great was the fall of it and lament. But truly, we need to make sure that we have the right foundation. This destruction here, let's be candid, says great was the fall of it. This has the idea of eternal destruction, eternal separation from God for all eternity. Would you agree with me that there is nothing so great The greatest fall, the greatest catastrophe that any person could ever experience is to reject Jesus and to come to the end of their lives and find themselves in eternal destruction in the lake of fire because they rejected God's word, the gospel, they rejected Jesus Christ. We would truly say great and miserable is the fall of that person. And as a pastor then, My highest goal is to make sure is to warn you. Who are you trusting in? Who are you relying on? Who are you depending on? Are you depending upon financial success? Are you depending upon politicians? Are you depending on family or on the occupation that God has given you? Are you relying on your own character or your own understanding or your own wisdom? Folks, if those things are your foundation, you're like that picture that I saw of that pillar of bricks, and it's about ready to fall at any time. And the only the biggest problem is you're going to fall into eternal destruction. But for those who have chosen Jesus Christ. And you've said my foundation is not on anything that I can do. It's not on anybody else, but it's on Jesus. I base my life. I trust. I believe in Jesus and my foundation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Then all of these things can take place as we think back through the sermon on the Mount. Remember that one of the things that Jesus called us to is a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees. Folks, it only comes through Jesus. He's the only one that can provide that righteousness. Jesus is saying through this message, follow me and I will provide the righteousness that you need. We can't work it up and make our own righteousness and do enough good to prevent the great fall that's coming apart from faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But for those of us who have relationship with Jesus, then it all fits together. Let's go back through quickly the message, or the whole sermon. The Beatitudes, those that are poor in spirit, those that mourn, those that are meek, those that are hungry and thirst for righteousness, and more, they will be satisfied because their foundation is Christ. They can be salt, they can be light, they can be the testimony that they need to be. They can have control. They can have victory over their anger. They can have victory over their struggles with lust and immorality. They can live lives that are faithful to their spouse. They can put their faith and their trust in God and be careful about what they say and what they do. They won't retaliate and get vengeance every time somebody gets angry with them because their foundation is on Jesus and he enables them to do these things. They can literally love their enemies. Remarkable. I can't love my enemies apart from Jesus. They can give to those that need. They can have truly vibrant prayer lives as they pray the model of the Lord's Prayer. They can actually consider fasting at times when the need is great and they really want to fervently seek God. They can do that with a right heart. They don't have to be anxious. They don't have to fear. They don't have to judge others and constantly be looking around and trying to pick at everybody. They know that when they come and ask their Heavenly Father for things that He will hear them and that He will provide for their needs. They know that they can actually put into practice the golden rule that I need to do to others what they would want me to do to them. And they know that their tree of spiritual fruit will bear fruit. And they know that one day that Jesus will see them and he will recognize them as his family. And that he won't say those terrible words, I never knew you. All of that is the Sermon on the Mount. And all of that is accomplished through the foundation of Christ and nothing that we can do on our own. And as we end this then, Jesus calls to us today again, who is your foundation? What is your foundation? It's interesting, look at verse 28 and 29, and when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. What that basically is saying is this, why were these people astonished? It's not like they didn't hear a lot of different teachings at that time from a lot of different rabbis and scribes. What was so different about Jesus' teaching? Because Jesus wasn't teaching the normal dry description of the rules upon rules that the Jewish leaders had made over the years that were based on the teachings of other rabbis rather than God's word. The rules upon rules upon rules to God's word that the rabbis had taught for hundreds of years but really had no real foundation. They were not a foundation at all. Jesus comes and he's teaching and explaining God's Word and as if he had full authority and power to do so almost like he's God But that's because he is God and he does have full authority to teach and to expect our obedience and the people marveled at that and But these crowds had a choice, and they had a decision to make. What were they going to found their lives on? Many of them rejected Jesus. Some trusted in Jesus and faith. Their foundation was secure. We'll see them in heaven one day. Folks, again, one more time. Who is your foundation? My prayer is for all of us that we can answer in the affirmative confidently. It is not my own efforts, but it is through Jesus Christ. Now, as we finish this morning, I can't help myself. I won't ask you to stand, but I do feel it's appropriate for us to sing the song. You ready to sing the song? The wise man built his house upon the rock. All right. Get your hands ready. I had to work through this with my family last night to make sure I did it right, because it's been a while. Ready? Here we go. The wise men build his house upon the rock. The wise men build his house upon the rock. The wise men build his house upon the rock. And the rains came tumbling down. Let's speed this up a little bit. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. And the house on the rock stood firm. Okay, that's good. But there's that other part. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. Foolish man built his house upon the sands, and the rains came a-tumbling down. The rains came down, and the floods came up. The rains came down, and the floods came up. The rains came down, and the floods came up. And the house on the stand went flat. Splat. Splat, flat. Just don't fall on the ground. We might have to pick some of you up afterwards. It's a great song. Folks, it's a vital truth. Who is your life built on? If it's Jesus, you have all. If it's anything else, one day if you don't turn to Jesus, the subscription under your life's picture will be great is was the fall of it. Father, this is sobering, but we need this confrontation. And Lord, my prayer is that everyone in this room truly can say that Jesus is their foundation. He has done all the work. Jesus has paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Let that be our confidence and our trust. Father, for those that have that are confident that they have Jesus as their foundation. Let us live like that every day in the confidence that we have in Christ so that the world would see the difference and follow after Jesus for the foundation of their lives.