The scripture reading is the 19th Psalm. The 19th Psalm, as we consider this morning, Christ the solid rock, Christ our rock. Psalm 19, verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them, he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them, there's great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. This morning we're going to turn to actually the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 7, verses 24 through 27. And we'll have a little bit of a preliminary here in some, probably quite a few weeks it'll take for us to get there in this Sunday morning class hour, but we will We will arrive eventually, Lord willing, and we will hear what Lloyd-Jones has to say. I'm going to give you a little bit of a taste, a sample of what he will say about this passage. But this is a great parable of the Lord Jesus. And so let's ask him to bless us and teach us with his spirit by his word. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for these words. Thank you for this parable of the wise man and the foolish man, two houses, two foundations. And we pray, Father, that you would teach us powerfully from this scripture, that your word would do its work in us, that we would be encouraged where your word encourages us, and we'd be convicted where it convicts us, that we would be challenged where we need to be challenged in regard to perhaps self-examination. But we ask your blessing now upon us as your church comes to hear from you from your word, and we pray this in Christ's name, amen. I wanted to mention also just, I don't know, kind of a little personal note, and it's personal for all of you as well. It's easy for us to take things for granted. I know that I do, but you know, in the last three and a half years or so in particular, for many years, many years here, but it seems to me like many ways in the last three and a half years or so. You can look around the room here, and we've got posters that the Austens made for us, and we've got some other things here, just as things to remind us of some of the things that the Lord has used to teach us. So you can start back there. There's John Calvin with his institutes right above Kevin's head back there. And the opening pages then to Pilgrim's Progress is there. We've got that great diagram color map that maps the path and the circuit that Christian followed in Pilgrim's Progress. And there's John Bunyan, and here's Christian losing his burden there. coming to the interpreter's house over here. Over in the corner, it's a little harder to see, but there's that great poster that the Austens did of the van with all the books in it that that the Lord has used among us here. You've got the signing of the Westminster Confession over here. And so all of these things are things that we don't want to take for granted that the Lord has really blessed us with. And I suppose one reason that I wanted to emphasize this is that, as I have told you quite a few times, but in my years in Bible college and seminary, never exposed to this stuff. We were never exposed to it, never ignorant of it. I was ignorant of Martin Lloyd Jones and all of his ministry and so forth. And we've had the privilege and still have the privilege of of hearing, gathering together, and hearing from God's Word as delivered to us and expounded to us by these saints that have gone before us. You know, Rome, wrongly, very unscripturally, kind of a form of idolatry, prays to and almost worships the saints, right? And as we reject that, we don't want to reject the saints, the ones that have gone before us all together. Hebrews 11 is all about that, one after another. Remember these that have gone before you. And so that's one reason we put some pictures up and so forth to remind us of the saints that have gone before us. Well, here's this short and yet very powerful parable that the Lord Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Mount with. Matthew chapter 7, it also appears in Luke's gospel, which I'll read in a moment. But Matthew 7, beginning in verse 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 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." And then here it is again in In Luke's Gospel, Luke 6, beginning in verse 46, there's a couple of additional nuances here that Luke gives us. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Translated, why do you claim to be a Christian, but do not do what Christ commands, right? Lots of people like that. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he's like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose and the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built, but The one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." So here you have two men, two houses, and two foundations. And you see the contrast here. One man is wise. One man is foolish. One house is solidly founded. The other has no foundation. One house stands in the storm, and the other one falls. And its fall is great. It's final, you see. So you have here in this parable a study in contrast. And that's something that the Lord Jesus did very often in his parables and in his teaching. Two men went up to the temple to pray, right? One was this Pharisee and the other one then this sinner. We have the narrow way and the broad way. And people, two people, two kinds of people. Those on Broadway, those on the narrow way. We have the wise virgins and the five foolish virgins. We have In Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower, the seed sown on good soil, and in contrast, the other seed that then comes to nothing. And so here you have these two. In contrast, two men, two houses, and two foundations. By now, I don't know if Vicki listens in real time. I think she probably does. But if she's listening right now, Vicki, I know that you're singing that kid's Sunday school chorus about these two men. And the wise man built his house upon the rock, and the foolish man And then there's all the hand gestures that they teach you. What would they do? All the little kids would fall down to the floor. And that's a great teaching tool. Here's a problem. Many times in the kids' Sunday school class and so forth, they're taught those things, and it's kind of fun. They're having fun. But there's not a lot of follow-through to teach them, all right, now, but what does this mean? What is Jesus telling us here, you see? We sell kids short. Kids at pretty young age can learn some pretty good concepts. And we don't want to sell them short then. So there's a, you know, there, A contrast of two is also in that other little Sunday school chorus. One door and only one, and yet its sides are two. Then the kids are taught, I'm on the inside. Well, I hope so, but on which side are you? Well, here then, we want to keep in mind the broad context here. This parable comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. In other words, it's preceded immediately by the Lord Jesus giving all of this instruction, starts in Matthew 5, on through chapter 6, on through chapter 7. So when he says, he who hears my words, he's specifically talking about what he has just taught them, what we're studying, beginning with the Beatitudes and so forth, and all the other subjects that he's going then to address. He presents his hearers with this great dichotomy. He presents them with only two possible responses to his word. He tells them, now you've all heard. You've all heard. But some of you will obey, and some of you, someone will do what I say. All of you are calling me Lord, Lord, but only some of you will do what I say. And others, you will not do what I say. And he illustrates this by these two men, their two houses, and the two foundations. Only two possibilities. The world doesn't like those kind of, I don't know what we call it, a dichotomy of black and white The world doesn't like absolutes like that, right? Truth is very absolute. The world doesn't like truth. There's two responses, only two responses here, hear and obey, hear and don't obey. You see, there aren't any other possibilities. He doesn't give any other possibilities, and yet, There's plenty of churches that are filled with people that think there's a third possibility. I can just kind of walk the line down the middle here then. But Christ won't allow that. He says you're either in Christ or you're lost. God's word says you're under grace in your relationship to God. or you're under his condemnation. You're a child of God, or you're a child of the devil. And there's only one determining factor that separates the two camps, and that factor is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying here. You have all heard, there's those of you who do my word, and there will be many of you who do not do my word. He's the determining factor then. And so we want to think very carefully about this. What he's presenting here, what he's saying, he's challenging us as well, is he's saying every human being that is ever born into this world or will be born into this world, every human being, their destiny, their eternal destiny hinges upon Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying here. You know, great's going to be your fall if you don't hear and obey. If you want to be wise and endure when the storms come, hear and obey then my words, you see. And so once again, the world in particular, many, many people that would claim to be Christians, they don't like that kind of black and whiteness, that kind of absoluteness. You know, we live in a day when the masses want to make truth relative. Truth is what you want it to be. The Constitution of our country is an organic developing and evolving thing so that you can make it what you want it to be. And you see this in the examples of this in the courts, for example. with judges, if people are so intelligent and they have a good, sound, quality education in constitutional law, theoretically, there ought to be quite a bit of agreement as to what the Constitution says, right? But what do we see? We see decisions in court split along party lines. Well, that tells you that they're not They're making the Constitution be what they want it to be. Well, that's what people do with God's Word. They think they can do it with God's Word. They come to God's Word, and they waffle and they squirm when they hear these kinds of absolutes, then, you see. And then they persist in this self-deception, telling themselves everything is well with their soul, when in fact, on that day when Christ comes again, he would say, I never knew you." Well, Jesus in this parable, as represented by these two men, is telling us that all of humanity, for all of the diversity, cultural differences, language differences, worldview differences, religious differences, when it comes right down to it, in God's sight, There's only two people, those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ. And you see, that's it. Those who hear the words of the Lord Jesus and do them, and those who hear him but refuse to do what he commands. It's simple, you see. And so man in his sin, well, again, he doesn't like that simplicity. He wants to be able to waffle and excuse himself. So he confuses this. He throws fogs out there, and he considers himself to be very, very wise. And all of this absoluteness that you Christians say with your Bible and so forth, well, that's just a mark that shows that you are fools, you see. So man, in his sin, he insists, look, There's lots of different kinds of people in the world. There's different foundations that you can build your life upon, which God will accept. Even the foundation of who you say God is doesn't matter. We want to be tolerant of everything, except you Christians, except this Bible and so forth. But in God's word, You don't have that diversity, right? You have one door and only one. You have two categories of people, those who hear and obey Christ's word, those who hear and refuse to obey Christ's word, those who pray, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, and those who say, oh, Lord, look at me. Look at all that I've done. I'm sure glad I'm not like that guy. over there than you see. Well, there's not only two men presented in this parable, the wise man and the foolish man, but there's also two houses. And the distinction between these men is not really readily evident in the appearance of the houses that they built, or even in their design. Jesus doesn't add and say, and this guy built this kind of a house, And this guy built this kind of a house, this kind of a thing. This one was simple. This one was more complex. He doesn't do that. It's just they built two houses. And the idea, the implication is that just looking at the houses, you couldn't really tell, oh, Does the wise man live there? Does he live over here? Which house does the fool live in? And so on. And so, in fact, you might even have found out that the foolish man's house looked more ornate and more the design you like more, and this kind of thing, more pleasing to the eye. So we see a principle here, and that is the Christian and the unregenerate man may not look very different externally. There's the emphasis, externally. Sometimes the unsaved man might have a more Christian appearance, a more saintly appearance, and just ask him and he'll tell you then that he does, this outward appearance, that one day, in the day of the storm, the difference is going to be made obvious. So it's not, and I think this is a vital point for us to know, and that is this, that it is not true that a genuine Christian and a counterfeit Christian are easily distinguished. at first sight, especially. By the spirit that God's given us to discern by his word and our ability to look for the fruit that is evident in a Christian's life, then we can sort things out. But it's not real easy. So I'll give you a little preview here of Lloyd-Jones' comment on this. He said, we need to be reminded of this constantly, because there's no point at which the devil, in his subtlety, seems to trap us so frequently. We cling to the notion that the difference between the true Christian and the pseudo, the fake Christian, is obvious. And by the way, to add in there, this note, we cling to the notion that pretty much then everybody that says they're a Christian is. And that is simply then not true. Our Lord's whole point, however, is that this is a most subtle matter. It's not obvious, either in the case of the men or the houses, If we do not stress that point, we miss the whole purpose of his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord emphasizes this element of subtlety everywhere in the Sermon on the Mount. We haven't gotten to those portions yet, but we will. It was there in the first picture of the men in sheep's clothing, the false prophets. The whole difficulty about the false prophet, as we saw, and as we will see, was that on the surface, He was so extraordinarily like the true prophet. The false prophet is not of necessity a man who says there's no God and that the Bible is just the product of human thinking and who denies the miracles and the supernatural. The false prophet can be detected, but only when you examine him very carefully with a sense of discrimination given only by the Holy Spirit. His condition is such that he deceives himself as well as others. It was precisely the same in that second picture, and it is so here also. The difference is not obvious. It's very subtle. So here you have two men, two houses, right? So far, to sort out which one is the wise one and which one's the foolish is not real. And so evaluating a person, including evaluating ourselves, notice that Lloyd-Jones mentioned there that the false prophets, the big danger, he's self-deceived. He not only deceives others, he's self-deceived. If you're self-deceived, you're really in trouble, right? It's one thing to deceive others and you know it and that's bad enough, but when I'm deceived myself, then I'm really in trouble, you see. We can't evaluate someone, including ourselves, if we only consider externals. And that's why Jesus, in the Beatitudes, began the Sermon on the Mount with things that are rather internal, pure in heart, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and those kinds of things. Because you can have a person, a kind of a Pharisee, who says things like, well, here's my life. Here's my house. That's what these houses are, really. The house is the life of the person that they're living, their mindset, their worldview, everything that they are. You might say, the house is the man, representing him. So someone can come along and say, well, here's my life. Look at what I've done. Look at my house. Look at what I'm doing. I tithe. I'm a faithful church member. I'm well liked by others. I am doctrinally and theological sound in my belief. And yet, he might be the fool whose house will crumble, the counterfeit. So doing what we hear Jesus say entails more than mere externals, right? outward actions. Hearing what Jesus says and doing it entails a matter of being. This is a vital principle in scripture. Doing proceeds from being. The Pharisee knows, the false Christian knows nothing of that. Doing mercy, doing kindness, doing righteousness, genuine mercy and kindness and righteousness proceeds from the heart. It proceeds from being a regenerate person, being pure in heart. You can only find them. in a person that is born again then in Christ. Because those things, that's why the Bible calls them what? The fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. Well, the fruit can't blossom and fruit, I guess you'd say, unless first the tree is. The tree is. a true tree with a good root, and so forth. Now, here's a difference that Luke points out to us. I say difference. It's additional detail that Matthew doesn't give, but Luke does. Of the wise man, Jesus said, he's like a man building a house who dug deep. He dug deep, right? And then there's the foolish man who built his house on the ground. See, the Little Kids Chorus, I always kind of thought of it this way, when it kind of gives you the impression that, well, yeah, the guy's building his house, and it's got a foundation and everything. But the problem is he's building it on sand. But Luke's little edition here tells us he builds it on the ground. There's no foundation at all. None. The framed walls are just resting on the ground, on the dirt. But the wise man here, he's not superficial. What does he do? He labors. He works at it to do the word. The foolish man chooses the easy way then, you see. The wise man is like this, Matthew 13. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, look it, he's digging deep now. I'm going for it. He goes, he sells all that he has and buys that field. He's got to have it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and he bought it. He goes to great energy and great length. He's going to get that pearl. But the foolish man. The counterfeit, he doesn't dig deep. He's superficial. He is very shallow. He's not willing to take up his cross and follow Jesus. He thinks building this house that God's going to approve of, here's my life, is just going to be an easy affair. It doesn't require much care. And so he builds his house on the sand, on the ground, with no foundation. You can put it like this. The foolish man's life has no foundation at all. Because a false foundation is no foundation, right? He simply builds his house on the ground because it's easy and it doesn't cost. He builds his way, not bothering to consult the architect. The architect is, of course, the Lord Jesus, and his instructions are his word which are to be obeyed. That's what he says. You know, if you hear my words and do them, you are like the wise man who builds his house upon the rock. And this is what motivates the Christian to obey the Lord. We hear his word. We believe it. And one of the things that Jesus tells us in this parable, and many other times as well, is the storm is coming. This storm is coming. You know, I think, I guess I'll refer to it later here when we get into the storms. So maybe I get ahead of myself here. But Jesus is going to say, look, the floods came, the rains came, and the floods came. The hand motions of the kids' chorus, the rain came down and the floods came up, right? That's Noah language. That's what that is. What is the flood of Noah? It is the wrath of God poured out upon the world. And it was the wrath of God at that time. It's also a picture of that final wrath of God, which is coming then in the day of the Lord. Now, we teach that. I guess maybe lots of churches don't speak much about it. that the day is coming when Christ comes again in judgment to judge the world. And he's going to take his people to be with him. He's going to judge the world. The world's going to perish in flames and melt. And so that great flood of that greatest flood of judgment is coming. Today, people, just like in Noah's day, are being told, the flood is coming. The flood's coming. You've got to get on the ark. You've got to be in the ark. We've got to be building an ark, and you need to get in it, you see. But what do we see? In most cases, we see people doing the exact same thing that happened in Noah's day. They just kind of blew it off. They're careless about it. They're like the foolish man here. I don't want to be troubled by this. It's not all that serious. I can build my house here the way I want, and everything will be OK. So the foolish man, well, he just can't be bothered then with detail. Lots of people that claim to be Christians are like that. I don't want to be, you know, that's doctrine and that's theology. And you know, you guys, you want to get into all these details and stuff. I just want to live my life. Oh, I love Jesus. I believe in Jesus. And I just want to live my life, you see. The epitaph, perfect epitaph for their gravestone. I did it my way. That's what happens. People that are in hell. In the end, they heard Jesus' voice, but they did it their way. They wouldn't obey him. They didn't do his word. I did it my way. That's one of the most evil songs that's ever been penned, but it's also an extremely accurate one. You know, yeah, Frankie, you did it your way, all right. And if we could hear from Sinatra now, what would he have to say, you see? Listen to Lloyd-Jones once more here. In a spiritual sense, the fool is not interested in learning from church history, doesn't want to be bothered. He doesn't want to dig deep, remember that, in order to grow. He's not interested in what the Bible has to say. He wants to do something, and he believes it can be done in his way. And away he goes, and he does it. I'll build my house the way I want. He doesn't consult the plans and specifications in God's word. He doesn't try to look to the future and envisage certain tests, storms, that must inevitably come upon the house that's being built. The wise man, of course, presents us with a complete contrast to that. He has one great desire, and that is to build durably. So he starts by saying, I don't know much about this. I'm not an expert in these matters. Wisdom dictates, therefore, that I should consult people who do know. I want to have plans and specifications. I want some guidance and some instruction. I know men can build houses quickly, but I want a house that will last. There are many things that may happen which will test my ideas of construction in my house. This is the essence of wisdom. And that brings us to the foundation of the matter, right? Two men, two houses, two foundations. This is where we really see the true nature of the thing. They are building, these two men are building upon two entirely different foundations. As it turns out then, those foundations reveal the fact that these two men are not the same at all. One is wise and one is foolish. One does, you know, the island, I guess that's what it is, is an island, of Manhattan. It's largely one huge rock. That's why they can build those skyscrapers on. They build them on the rock. The foolish man would try to build a skyscraper in what's the opposite geographical region of a rock? I don't know where it is. And he'd build it in the Everglades. Here we go, right? And off it goes. This is what, if we're wise, when we're going to build a literal house, what do you do? You dig down. You build forms. And then, if there's not rock, a bedrock, you make a rock. You pour concrete, right? And put that foundation down that will support the house. And you carefully select. the location for the house as well. But again, the foolish man, the fake Christian, that's what we're talking about here, the fake Christian. And I think specifically, he's talking about Jesus is addressing people who would claim to be Christians here. This guy is building a house, just like the wise man. But he can't be bothered with the details of God's word. He doesn't want to hear them. He just wants to build where he wants and how he wants. He doesn't even want to bother with a foundation, so he builds on the dirt. And that's been done more than once here on the coastline, right? All those condos that they built over at, is it Oceanside? Some of those were off into the sand and so forth. And so it was big trouble. So he builds without any foundation. Why? Because he doesn't believe that a storm is coming. He doesn't believe that. He doesn't believe that it's any big deal that Jesus is coming again, if he believes that. Everything's going to be fine. He's just going to tell me what a fine house I built, and everything then is going to be good. But Jesus here is likening his second coming to the torrent that destroyed the primitive world in Noah's day. I don't know. You wonder if this parable is what gave whoever wrote it the idea of the three little pigs. Right? Because you got the one pig that built, one guy builds out of straw. The other one builds out of wood. They both get eaten with a wolf right away. And then the other guy, he builds a brick house, right? And he stands. So I don't know, but somebody may have had this parable then in mind. This digging down deep, also, I think it is accurate to conclude that that is also a picture of self-examination. You know, if we're going to follow Christ, this requires self-examination. This is a huge subject. This is a huge topic. A wise person examines themselves. to see if they're really Christians, right? Test yourself, examine yourself to see if you're in the faith, right? That's what we should do. Look for the fruit of the Spirit then in our lives. If our life is really built upon the rock who is Christ, then I will be willing to examine myself. A fool will not. A fool won't. If you point, let's see, one of those old philosophers, I can't remember which one, one of them said something like this, and I'm just paraphrasing it. If you tell a fool a lie about himself, you don't tell him he's a fool, you tell a lie, how great a guy, oh, he'll love you, he'll love you. But if you tell a fool the truth, He'll hate you. He will hate you for it, you see, because he will not do this deep digging. Psalm 139, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, test me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. That prayer will terrify The narcissist, I'd say the sinner as well, but especially a full-blown narcissist, he has no capacity. He chooses not to have a capacity for self-examination, to look within, to actually pray honestly and sincerely, Lord, search me. Know my heart. Test me. Know my thoughts. I want you to see if there be sin, any grievous way in me. I want you to show it to me so I can repent of it, and then you can lead me in the right way, in the way everlasting. The fool, he will not do that. The counterfeit believer simply tells himself, everything's good. I believe in Jesus. God loves everybody. We're all sinners. God understands that. Everything is OK. But if you challenge such a person regarding the foundation that they're building their life upon, they will hate you. And if that challenge is preached faithfully in a church, the fool's fangs will come out. And if they can't silence the message, they will then depart, you see. I'll give you one more quote here by Lloyd-Jones on this. That's why he, the fool, is to be found in the realm of the church. And this is like, so why does the fool even bother building this house, building his life upon this kind of a foundation and claiming that his house is going to be approved by God? And why does he even bother with church and all this stuff? Well, this is why he's to be found in the realm of the church. He's anxious to obtain certain blessings. And in this, he differs from the man who is right out in the world, the full-blown pagan, and who doesn't claim to have any beliefs at all. But this man, the fool, has discovered that there are certain blessings offered in Christianity. He's interested in them. Like Simon Magus, he tried to buy the spirit, same kind of thing. He wants to know something about them and how to obtain them. He's always thinking in terms of, what can I get? What will it give me? What benefits are likely to accrue to me if I go in for it? That's the kind of motive that animates him. And because this is his attitude, he doesn't really face the full teaching of the gospel, nor does he want to know the whole counsel of God. Your foundation is faulty. You are building your house on dirt. The storms are coming. It's not gonna last. You better repent. You better tear this thing down and get a foundation and build upon it. But the fool won't listen. He won't listen. So in the parable, the houses, the two houses, okay, they're built. One's built on the rock. built with no foundation, then, at all on the dirt. Here it is. Now the storm's coming. And it's like, OK, here's these two men. Both of them have lived their earthly lives. Here's the houses they've built. Here's their house. One's founded on Christ. One's founded on dirt. The storm of God's judgment is coming. And now it's too late. There's no time for renovation of the house. That's it. It's like the bridegroom has come, and the door is shut, and the five foolish virgins are on the outside. So construction is over. Life had moved on. Everything seemed well. And the foolish man, this is interesting. Think about this. We don't know this for sure, but let's say somehow or other, these two houses were built within eyeshot of each other. They could see, OK, one's on the rock and one's on the dirt. And so here they are. And at this point, you could probably imagine that the foolish man is mocking the wise man. Ha, you idiot. Look at all the extra expense and effort, all that deep digging that you did. Look at that. You were so serious. You expended money that you didn't have to expend. But then the storm comes. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, the house of the fool. And great was the fall of it. It's gone. This guy is swept away in the judgment. The rain fell and the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, a wise man, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. It's not difficult to think of things that these storms represent, right, that come against us in this life. Ultimately, it is the final judgment, that is the great storm that is going to come. And the person whose life is not built upon Christ, great will be their fall. Great and final will be then their fall. But there's also storms. The lives we live in this world are filled with storms, storms that come against us. You could probably add to the list that I put in your handout here. There's the storm of sickness. There's the storm of death of a loved one, the loss of a home, wars. Those are storms that come in being hated by others, loss of a job or other income, rejection by a loved one, by a spouse, persecution for being a Christian. Remember the parable of the sower again, one of the seeds that didn't have root. And the first time persecution came along, that was it. I'm done with this. Natural disasters, literal storms that wipe out everything. Growing old. Growing old is a storm that comes against us. And so life, this world is a stormy sea. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. See the storms, that's the world we live in. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. That's a pretty big storm that comes against us. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. Why? Because they built their house upon the sand. And these are specifically professing Christians. Think about it. In order to fall away, You had to be there first. You had to be a professing Christian then, you see. This world, you're not going to find peace in this world. It just storms. There's either a, how did somebody put it? There's either a storm that was just ending, that I've been through. There's a storm that I'm in, and there's another storm coming. And that is the nature of life, then, in this world. Jesus said that in him we can have peace. And in this world, we will not have peace. It's a stormy, stormy, then, place. So false foundations. What are false foundations? You could come up with another list of things that people build their house upon, their life upon. False religion, money. Well, popularity, academic degrees, family, philanthropy, go on and on and on. This is what I'm about. That's what I'm going to build my life upon. You see, that's what's important. Get that degree and so forth. But those are useless foundations. They're the stuff upon which fools build their lives. Think of the rich man, the rich fool. The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. See, his wealth, that was what he's founded. His life is founded upon that. So he says, I'll do this. Tear down my barns and build larger ones. Then I can store all my grain and my goods, and I'll say to myself, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. That's the fool building his house upon the sand with no foundation. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you've prepared This house you've built, the stuff you've got, who's going to have it now? It's not going to be you. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. The psalmist, Psalm 37, said, I've seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away. And lo, he was not. I sought him, but he could not be found, because the storm came. And he had no foundation. He wasn't built upon the rock." Well, this leaves us all with plenty of room to examine ourselves, right? What am I building my house upon? Am I building my life upon the Lord Jesus Christ? And knowing full well that the storm is coming. And in order to endure that storm, our life has to be built upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for this parable in your word. Thank you for the great truth that it presents to us. We pray that in any area of our lives where we've been perhaps careless, maybe giving in to the lies of the world here and there and putting emphasis upon and importance, undue emphasis and importance on things of this world and thus laying a bit of a false foundation. Father, we pray that you would search our hearts and see if there be any hurtful way in us and lead us in the way everlasting so that we build upon that solid rock in which we can meet the storms of this life, which are inevitable, and ultimately that storm of the day of the Lord. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.