24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

²⁵ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

²⁶ And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

²⁷ And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

²⁸ And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

²⁹ For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Matthew 7:24-29

 

Have you built your house upon the rock?

 

When we build a house on the rock, it means building on the right foundation. It means hearing the words of Jesus and doing them.

If you want to build your house upon the rock, you need to ask yourself:

• Is the foundation solid?
• Is the foundation strong?
• Is the home secure?

 

Today houses are built on cement foundations, since this is the easiest way to build our house upon a rock. We can learn a lot from concrete. We can learn how to build our lives on the right foundation.

Let’s start with solid.

Is your foundation solid?

Your life may not feel solid at all. You may feel that you have nothing to work with. You don’t have cut stone and new bricks. Your bricks are all chipped and your stone is just gravel and dust. You don’t have anything to build a solid foundation with.

 

Cement

• It binds
• It turns broken things into whole things
• It builds walls out of broken pieces
• It’s solid: It doesn’t leave room for water to creep in

 

What is the cement in our spiritual lives? The Holy Spirit is the cement.

 

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

When the Holy Spirit comes into your life it works with whatever you got. You could have sand, gravel, stone dust or chipped bricks. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the cement. It holds things together.

 

It isn’t about what you bring to the table; the foundation is Christ. Jesus rebuilds you through the power of the Holy Spirit

That’s called sanctification. We are made into the likeness of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So is it solid? Only if you’ve accepted Jesus.

There is no foundation more solid than Jesus. You can learn many things in life, and you can search endlessly for wisdom. But once you learn that Jesus saves, you’ve hit bedrock. You can’t go any further. Once you hit bedrock, you stop digging and you start building your house.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Car Keys

You know, when people lose their car keys, they go looking for them. And they often say: “They were in the last place I looked.” Of course they were! Why would you keep looking after you found them?

 

So let me ask you, are you still looking for Jesus after you found him? Are you still looking for answers when you found THE answer? What’s the point of that? Why would you want to let nonsense seep into your life? That’s like allowing water to get into the cracks of a home’s foundation.? We have a solid foundation in Christ. Jesus is the cement that holds us together and fills in all the gaps. There isn’t room for anything more!

You need a solid foundation because things like to creep into your house:

Matthew 12:43:

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.44“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

 

Don’t leave any room for spirits! Is your foundation solid? Don’t leave any room for nonsense!

You’ve been digging long enough. Stop looking for something you already found! Stop digging and start building your house.

Is your foundation strong?

 You want to have a foundation that is solid, but you also want it to be strong.

Once again, we must hear the sayings of Jesus and do them. The good news is that we only have to be WILLING; the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting. Are you WILLING to walk in the Spirit?

Romans 8:1-4

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

⁴ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 

• Did you ever notice that some Christians are supernaturally strong. It’s like there is some inner strength that gives them an unbreakable backbone. Their spirit never breaks. Their fire never goes out. Or so we like to think.
• The truth is that we all have our breaking points. Only a proud and arrogant person believes that they have an unbreakable spirit.
• But when the Holy Spirit is in you, you can bear loads that are too heavy for a normal person. Too heavy for ANY person. You can hold up under pressure that would crush an ordinary man or woman. You bend, but you don’t break. It’s like you have a flexible spine.
• What’s inside a Christian? Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to do a spiritual autopsy on a believer. What would we find inside? What gives a Christian that inner strength?
• I have one idea of what it might look like. Did you ever see steel-reinforced concrete? Did you ever see the remains of a building that collapsed, with twisted metal inside the cement? This metal is called rebar, and it’s used inside cement to reinforce it. This allows the concrete to bear incredible loads. It gives it stability that cement alone does not have. Because it is the nature of cement to be strong but brittle.
• Someday, if they did a spiritual autopsy on you, what would they find? Would they find the Holy Spirit inside? Propping you up when you couldn’t take it any more? Bending, but not breaking. Flexing with the load, and bouncing back instead of cracking?

 

Is your foundation strong? Are you willing to do what Jesus commands? Are you willing to walk in the Spirit?

 

I want a solid foundation for my life and I want a strong foundation. But I also want my home to be secure.

Have you built your house upon the rock?

• Is it solid?
• Is it strong?
• Is it secure?

Is your house secure?

Your life might have a solid foundation and sturdy walls, but it still might not be secure.  Let me give you some examples of houses that have a solid and strong foundation, but still are not secure.

• House of rebellion

You know God’s laws, but you just do it your way. You do whatever you want, and hang out with people who break all the rules. You have abandoned what God has commanded, so strange things seem normal to you. In fact, you become comfortable in an unnatural environment.

That’s like building a home under the sea, or on Mars. It’s not a natural place to live. But You glory in your own power. You glory in your ability to break the rules. You glory in your brains and your guts.

Matthew 7:27: …and the house fell, and great was the fall of it.

The ground is solid and the walls are thick, but your home is by no means secure. One day the walls will come crashing down because you have defied God’s laws. Hopefully you’ll learn real soon that God’s laws were meant to save you, not to hurt you.

 

• House of isolation

You seek solitude but not for prayer; you just want to be left alone. People get on your nerves. And sometimes they expose your weaknesses. You don’t want to hear what they have to say, so you just cut yourself off. You don’t want folks to see the trash and clutter you’ve been hoarding in your spiritual attic.

 

What is your home like? Well, the ground is solid and the walls are secure but that’s because you are living in a cave. And your home isn’t secure because there is a bear hibernating in the back. You see, you’re not the only one who wants to hide out in the dark. Certain demons like to dwell in dark places. Demons like despair, depression, insanity, and hostility. You don’t even know if the demons are lurking back there. You just don’t want to know. You pretend that everything’s all right. You’re comfortable in your mess and your isolation, and you don’t want to risk confronting the truth about yourself. The house of isolation is solid and strong, but it is by no means secure.

 

• House of neglect

You know the Lord but you are distracted by the world.  “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:12) The riches of the world are so appealing that you never developed spiritual roots. Your relationship with Jesus was paper thin, since you listened to man more than you listened to God.

You built your house on what appeared to be solid ground. You were prospering and in good health, and you didn’t see a need to probe any deeper. You put your trust in the wisdom of the world, and you put your faith in the riches of the world.

Well, Your home is built on rock, but the rock is hollow. You built your home above a sinkhole, and it will eventually collapse beneath you.

When the storms come, you are not prepared. You can’t handle it when poverty, sickness, or loneliness come knocking on your door. And then one of them moves in with you. You just can’t take it. The house of spiritual neglect appears solid and sturdy, but it is not safe or secure. The house of spiritual neglect is built over an empty shell. Is that you? An empty spiritual shell?

 

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. (1 Timothy 4:14)

• House of illusion

Your home is built on solid ground with thick walls. You have 24-hour security by trained personnel, so your home is a secure palace. You live to see your children’s children, and you enjoy health and happiness all the days of your life. You are kind and generous, and many people believe that you are blessed.

You know about God, and since you are sophisticated and well-read, you have read the Bible, along with many other books. The Word of God is near you. The Word of God is around you. But the Word of God is not in you.

You have built your home on an illusion. What you thought was comfort, stability and safety was actually deception meant to enslave you. What you thought was a palace was actually a prison. Your home had solid ground, thick walls, and 24-hour security. But you were a prisoner of your own prosperity. Your prison had satin sheets and organic, corn-fed beef. But it was still a prison.

 

The Devil fooled you all your life, and now you are in Hell. You spent your entire life focused on the physical world. What you could see, hear, taste, and touch. You thought the material world was the real world. You thought spiritual things were just feelings and emotions. Spirituality wasn’t practical. Spirituality wasn’t real. Now you find yourself in the light of eternity, and you discover that only spiritual things last forever.

The house of illusion had solid ground, thick walls, and security that lasted a lifetime. But it wasn’t really safe or secure, not in the long run. The house of illusion wasn’t even practical, not when you think about it. Practical for what? For an eternity in hell?

Is your home secure? Not if you’re living in a house of rebellion. A house of isolation. A house of neglect. A house of illusion. If that’s you, you have to relocate. Are you willing to move?

 

You are in the wrong house. How can you live right if you live in the wrong house? You gotta live right.

And that means the house that God built for you: You have to live in Christ. You have to move out of where you are, and move into the temple of the Holy Spirit.

What’s it look like?

• It is the house of mercy
• The house of justice.
• The house of faith.
• The house of love.

 

Have you built your house upon the rock?

We had three questions:

1. Is it solid? Have you put your trust in Jesus? That’s the only solid foundation for eternity.
2. Is it strong? Are you willing to do what Jesus commands? Do you walk in the spirit?
3. Is it secure? Are you living in the right house?

So let us now pray for the grace of God. To live in Christ.

Heavenly Father we need your help to build our house upon the rock. We need a solid foundation, so let us build it upon Jesus Christ. We need a strong foundation, so make us willing to do what Jesus commands. And we need a secure home, so help us to live in the right house. The house You build for us.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.