As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this morning, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention
to the words we read together in the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 7 and at verse 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. The 25th verse and the 7th chapter
of the gospel according to Matthew. What we see here in this remarkable
parable of our Lord Jesus Christ is two great extremes. two types of builders. And one, the result was it fell
not, for it was founded upon a rock. And the other, it fell
and great was the fall of it. I firmly believe that no minister
sent of God to preach can tell the enormity of being lost eternally. But we can, because we have in
the scriptures, speak of those blessings laid
up in store for those who seek, by God's wonderful grace, for
their eternal soul. And here we have at the close
of this remarkable discourse of our Lord Jesus Christ,
known as the Sermon on the Mount. This wonderful, well-known parable
at the close of these chapters. And he who spoke these wonderful
words is he who created the world and all that is in it. How was the world created? What
we read in the very first chapter in the Bible tells us it was
the spoken word of God. If we just turn quickly to the
very first verse, chapter in the Bible, Genesis chapter one,
and we read there, in the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And then in verse three, and God said, let there be light. Verse six, and God said, let
there be a firmament. Verse nine, and God said, let
the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place.
Verse 11, and God said, let the earth bring forth grass. Verse
14, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament, and
so on. And whenever God said, there
was a result. Such is the power of almighty
God. A power which we cannot begin
to estimate or understand. God's word, God spoke. And here God speaks to those
who had gathered together to hear him. And that closing verse
in this chapter seven speaks of the authority of the words
spoken by our Lord Jesus. We read, for he taught them as
one having authority and not as the scribes. This same Lord Jesus who spoke
these words is he of whom we read in those
opening words to the Hebrews. And we must always remember the
epistle to the Hebrews was written to New Testament believers who
were in danger of slipping back into the Old Testament rituals,
forgetting that the Lord Jesus had only recently given his life
a ransom for sinners, and that all the Old Testament types and
shadows had gone, and our Lord Jesus himself is that new and
living way. And the writer to the Hebrews
begins by saying, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers, as in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world. And the writer goes on to say
of the Lord Jesus, he is the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person, who when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now this same Lord Jesus is he
who proclaimed this wonderful, remarkable Sermon on the Mount
recorded in the Holy Scriptures in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the
Gospel of Matthew. We've only read the last part
of it this morning and in your spare time please feel free to
read it again. It's the very instructions that
we need in the day in which we live from our Lord Jesus Christ. I think I'm right in saying that
this is the longest recorded sermon of our Lord Jesus in the
scriptures. But all who were there could
say, we have heard the Lord Jesus preach. But as always, There
was a vast congregation and there were many who believed. The people were astonished at
his doctrine, we read. It was life. It was, he gave
to them that whereby they could assess themselves. Am I truly
seeking after eternal life or am I building on a false foundation? And the Lord Jesus knew this,
didn't he? We must always remember when
the Lord Jesus was preaching to people on this earth, there
were those who he knew. He could see their hearts. He is God. There's nothing hidden
from him. And therefore, sadly, there were
those unaffected. by even the preaching and teaching
of our dear Lord Jesus. And therefore we see in these
words that the Lord Jesus has made it very clear. If we go
back just a few verses to verse 21, the Lord Jesus is very clear
and very firm on this point. He says, not everyone that saith
unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name
done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Then the Lord Jesus brings in
this remarkable, very clear to understand parable. Therefore,
he says, because of what has gone before, now listen to this,
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will
liken him, the Lord Jesus will liken him to a wise man which
built his house upon a rock. And so the Lord Jesus gives to
his hearers the beginning of this remarkable parable. 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. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man which built his house upon the sand. 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. And as we have already said,
we cannot begin to explain the enormity of being eternally lost. Eternity, that immeasurable state
with no beginning and no end. I think there's a hymn that,
there's a couplet that goes, when fixed in an eternal state
can men repent? It is then too late. How solemn. And it's well worth noticing
that verse 25 and verse 27 are exactly the same words. The
man that built his house on the rock had the same storm to withstand
as the man that built his house upon the sand. But the difference
is that when the rain descended and the winds blew and the floods
came and beat upon that house, it fell not, for it was founded
upon a rock. Now this rock speaks to us clearly
of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. He alone is the way of
salvation. The Apostle Peter, who suffered
much because he proclaimed the Lord Jesus as the only way of
salvation, said these words when he was challenged about preaching
the gospel. He said, neither is there salvation
in any other. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And as the Lord would help us
this morning, I would like to look at this subject under three
headings. Firstly, our Lord Jesus is a
provided rock. He is also, secondly, a priceless
rock. and he is a rock that prevails. He has accomplished salvation. Our wondrous Lord Jesus is he
who was eternally provided. In the eternal counsel of God,
he was the anointed one. That's why
he's called the Christ. He is the one that came to this
earth. And all the sin that has come into the world by the fall
of mankind, our Lord Jesus has accomplished. Even before the
work of ministry began in the life of the Lord Jesus, He was
led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And what we see here is that
in each case, what temptation Adam and Eve gave way to, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in his wondrous sovereign mercy and eternal love, has accomplished
and therefore he is our provided saviour. When God first created mankind,
God created man in his own image, in his own likeness. But what
we read is, only a few chapters on, we read that Adam, who was the father of the generations
following him, we read in chapter 5 in Genesis,
and Adam lived 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness,
after his image, and he called his name Seth. in the wondrous love of God. It was the line of the family
of Seth, of whom Abraham was born, and then Isaac and Jacob,
and the line of Judah, which led to the royal family of David,
of whom the Lord Jesus himself came into this world. And he is our provided saviour. And I feel sure that sin did
not take God by surprise. He already had provided a way
of salvation. When Adam and Eve had sinned,
we read that they went and hid themselves in the Garden of Eden
among the trees. Did God leave them there? Did
God think to himself, Well, they have sinned. I am holy. I cannot look upon sin. But no, God entered into the
Garden of Eden. And in his mercy, and in his
love, he called out, Adam, where art thou? Where art thou? He went looking for Adam. It
wasn't Adam that came looking for God. No, God's sovereign
love only worked through him not through poor sinners and
therefore we can only give thanks to God that he has provided a
way of salvation whereby he enters into the hearts and lives of
the lost and brings them into a living relationship with himself
And it's worth noting that before ever Adam and Eve were cast out
of that Garden of Eden, that Garden of Paradise, that God
promised the providing of our Lord Jesus Christ to come into
this world. He said, the seed of the woman
shall bruise the serpent's head and he shall bruise his heel. telling us that the Lord Jesus
would come to this earth, he would walk on this earth, and
through his wondrous love, in giving himself a sacrifice for
sin, he will bruise the head of Satan. Satan's head is bruised
even today, and that's why he is about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. But God is wonderfully merciful,
isn't he? God is a God of great mercy. He only does wondrous things. Samuel Medley wrote these words,
number nine in Gadget's hymn book. He saw me ruined in the
fall, yet loved me notwithstanding all. He saved me from my lost
estate, his lovingkindness. Oh, how great. What a remarkable blessing it
is that we can sing and speak of God's lovingkindness. The Lord Jesus, this provided
rock, our dear Saviour, says of those who hear these sayings
of mine and doeth them, he says, I will liken him unto a wise
man that built his house upon the rock. And this rock is no
other than Jesus himself, who is here speaking about himself,
the provided rock. It was founded upon a rock, that
means the foundation is our Lord Jesus, the rock himself. And the only safe and secure
place of salvation. And we have the blessing of looking
back in history to the time when our Lord Jesus was here on this
earth. It is a fact. And we have the record in scripture
of his life His finished work on earth and his ongoing work
of intercession in heaven above. What a blessing. And we cannot see the foundation
of a house, can we? I have seen the foundation of
my house because when I bought it, it was a in a state of disrepair. And it was actually an insurance
write-off because the foundations were inadequate. And it took
me quite a while. I dug underneath the foundations
a bit at a time, about four foot at a time, and put another foundation
underneath. It took a lot of concrete and
a lot of work. But now it's all covered up,
you don't see it. but it's a comfort to know it's
there. And when we think of this, dear friends, we can't see God. We haven't
seen yet our Lord Jesus Christ. We trust by his wonderful grace
that one day we will look on his wonderful face and see him
and What a blessing it is that our
hope is fixed on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. But to know that a foundation
is there and not see it doesn't make it any less real, does it? It is there. And we have in Scripture
those who believed. Abraham had not seen God, had
he? Abraham, we read in Epistle to the Hebrews, believed God.
He believed that what God had promised, he was able also to
perform. And when Abraham was instructed
by God to take his son of promise, Isaac, for a sacrifice on a mountain,
God said that I will show you. Abraham obeyed. And what a heavy heart he must
have had. That son of promise on whom God had given to him
that remarkable word that in him and his seed shall all nations
of the earth be blessed. And yet Abraham was instructed
to go and offer him up for a sacrifice. Abraham went. He left the servants
at the bottom of the mountain and he and his son Isaac went
forward together. The father and the son walking
together. And the question that Isaac,
his son, asked was a very reasonable question. My father, he said, we have the
wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And I feel that the answer that Abraham gave to Isaac was a divinely
inspired answer. What did Abraham say? My son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will
provide himself Speaking of this provided rock
of our salvation. And we read that Abraham truly
believed that even if Isaac's life was not spared, God would
revive him again because of the promise that was given regarding
him. And of course we have another
example in Job. What a remarkable character Job
was. And we read in the very depths of the trouble that Job
was in. He was given that tremendous measure
of assurance. Job had not seen God, of course. He believed in God. And I don't
think Job would have had any written scripture to read. Job
is one of the oldest characters in the Bible. I think he might
even predate Abraham. But he was given that wonderful belief even in the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus. Listen to these words. Oh that
my words were now written. Oh that they were printed in
a book. Thankfully they are. that they were graven with an
iron pen and lead in the rock forever. Note the word rock,
established. For I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold
and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. What a blessing God gave to dear
Job in the depth of all his trouble. It's as though light shone like
a bright shaft through a black cloud. And God showed himself
so gracious and merciful to Job with this vision. And he said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. And so to build our house upon
a rock is to come by the wonders of grace and God's gift of grace to be blessed. and be among those who by his
perfect righteousness know that the Lord has provided, supplied
and given in himself and by himself our Lord Jesus, the rock of our
salvation. A rock is solid and dependable. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
those Corinthian believers, He said, other foundation has no
man laid than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And the security
of this rock is provided, isn't it? The perfect, uniquely perfect
life of our Lord Jesus. You look back to, beginning of the Gospel of Matthew,
and we have the record of how the Lord God dwelt in the heart
of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and what a trial it was when
Joseph was about to marry Mary to find that she was with child. And we read in the first chapter
of Matthew, Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. He shall save his people from
their sins. What a wonderful provided rock
he is. And to those who believe in him,
they are saved. How? By him giving his life,
a ransom for many. And we read in the scriptures,
don't we, of that Lamb without blemish. And this, of course,
causes us to believe that wonderful text that without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sin. This is the foundation. This is the rock. on which our
hope of heaven is built. Good Joseph Hart wrote a hymn,
what Christ has said must be fulfilled on this firm rock believers
build. His word shall stand, his truth
prevail, and not one jot or tittle fail. A provided rock, the Lord
Jesus. And we read, it fell not, for
it was founded upon a rock. Now how can we begin to value
such a sure foundation? It is a priceless rock, our Lord
Jesus. Priceless, a value which cannot,
never will be estimated. And this parable of our Lord
Jesus Christ, he refers to us as these sayings of mine. His
sayings. The whole of the Bible, of course,
is God's word. It is priceless. We can't put a price on it, can
we? We can pay our money and buy a Bible, yes, with our money,
but when we hold it in our hands, we have the most valuable printed
pages this world knows. And yet how sadly so many don't
even know or want to know about this wonderful gift of God's
holy written word. And we sometimes sing that the
written and the incarnate word in all things are the same. The
holy scriptures and the Lord Jesus go hand in hand. I read an account only recently
of a young lady who was suddenly blessed with a concern for her
eternal soul. She was suddenly made aware.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. We pray that we might
hear more of this. But she was made aware that she
had a soul. And she spoke about it to one
of her friends at work. She was only recently married.
And her work friend gave her a copy of the Bible. And she
started reading it. And she fed on it. And whenever
she had a spare time, she picked it up and read a bit more. God
was blessing it to her. And her husband said, what's
that book you keep reading? She said, it's a Bible. A friend
gave it to me and now I've started reading it, I can't put it down.
She said, It answers the questions that are going on in my heart
and soul. And her husband said, well, you
forget that. And he said, give that Bible
to me and I'll read it and prove that it's not true. So she very
reluctantly handed this Bible over in fear that she might not
see it again. But her husband started reading
it with a very critical view. And thankfully, And we're not
surprised because it is a living word. It is God-breathed. He started reading it and God's
word convicted him of his sin and his opposition to God. And
the result was that they both became true believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And their salvation was founded
on this priceless rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are many in this world
today, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who suffer because
they believe in the Holy Scriptures. And what a blessing it is that
we read, thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
This path leads us only through our Lord Jesus Christ,
to God. This priceless rock is salvation
for our priceless souls, isn't it? There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved and I remember being in conversation
with someone talking about the value of their scriptures and
we parted on agreeing that, in that verse, what shall it profit
a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Well, it's a question
we can't answer. But it's true, there is no other
wonderful blessing than to know our Lord Jesus Christ and to know him in this way is
a priceless possession because he is a priceless rock of our
salvation. A rock is standing for security. I heard of a merchant ship that
was in great danger near a rocky coast and it was dark and the
captain said he would get far enough away from these dangerous
rocks or else it would damage the ship and sink it and the
storm kept blowing and he dropped anchor and the ship tossed and
turned and the waves were breaking right across the ship and a sailor
who was on board deck got swept off and they searched, they put
lights all over the place, they couldn't find him. In the morning, they looked,
and quite a way off along the coast, or just off the coast,
there was a big rock with like a ramp that sloped up, and this
man was clinging to the rock. They sent a lifeline out and
got him back on board the ship, and they said to him, were you
frightened? He said, I've been shaking all night with fear.
but I clung to the rock and I was kept safe. Now, what a blessing
it is if we know that we can cling to the finished work of
our Lord Jesus and know something of that security. And these things should be our
priority, shouldn't they? In this same chapter we read
the Lord Jesus says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
And not only is this rock of our Lord Jesus provided and priceless,
but it is also a rock which prevails. To prevail is to win and conquer
and overcome and of course to triumph over all. We've already noticed that the
man who built his house on the rock had the same storm to withstand
as the man who built his house on the sand. What a great difference it is
to know this immovable foundation, Christ Jesus, the rock of our
salvation, the house on the rock, did not fall. No, because this
rock, our Lord Jesus, is an all-prevailing rock. The Apostle Paul said to the
people, he wrote to the Roman believers who suffered much persecution
for righteousness sake, he said, you're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. Now here is the rock, here is
the security. More than conquerors. When the
storms of life and the opposition of the evil one beat upon them,
those storms, those storms of life, will beat upon our relationship
and our trust with our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord Jesus has already
conquered sin and death and hell, and if by God's grace we're trusting
in Him, we must always remember He has
done on this earth all that he came from heaven to accomplish. It is a finished work. And before ascending into heaven,
the Lord Jesus said, all power is given to me in heaven and
in earth. He said, go therefore and teach
all nations. And these wonderful truths come
to us from our Lord Jesus. It is a remarkable thing. Go therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, and listen to this, this
all-prevailing rock, our Lord Jesus, He says, lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world. Yes, he said, my
peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. It is sure, it is certain. And
we don't know what tomorrow will bring. We don't know when our
Lord will return. But I'll just leave you with
a little anecdote. a gardener who worked for a gentleman
who was in international business. This man said, I'm going on a
world tour on business. He said, while I'm gone, I want
you to keep my garden as tidy as if I'm here. Your wages will
be paid into the bank once a month. And this man said, that's all
right, sir. I'll carry that out. Time went by, months and then
years. And after a while, someone visited
this big house where this man was a gardener. And he said,
everything looks right. He said the edges of the lawn
are all nice and neat and tidy and the weeding is all done and
everything looks wonderful. It's all growing well. And he
said, when's your master coming home? He said, today or tomorrow. When? This year or next month? And this dear old gardener looked
at him, he said, well, he might come today. But if he comes,
I'm ready. Now what a blessing it is to
be found on this firm rock on which believers build. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew. and beat upon that house, and
it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Can we say my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness? May the Lord add his blessing
to these few remarks.