Founded Upon a Rock

I'm going to read today from
the book of Matthew, the seventh chapter, verse 25. Now, if you
have a Bible, I'd like for you to turn to that scripture, Matthew
7, 25, and let me speak to you on this subject founded on a
rock. Founded on a rock. Now, listen
to the Lord as he speaks. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house, and
it fell not. for it was founded on a rock. Now these are the closing words
of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. All of you familiar with the
Sermon on the Mount? You'll find it there in Matthew 5, 6, and
7. And in these closing words, our
Lord issues four warnings. Now these are important. There
are four warnings issued by the Master in these closing verses
of Matthew 7. First of all, he warns us against
following the crowd. He warns us against following
the crowd. This is a religious crowd that
he's talking about. They're on a road. It's a broad
road, but there are many of them that are on this road, and he
warns us about following this crowd. Listen to verse 13 and
14. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and
broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many, many
there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, and few there be that
find it." Now, my friends, it's not easy to stand for the gospel
of grace when it's despised and hated by so many people. I'm
not saying that it's easy. And it's not easy to be forsaken
by friends and forsaken by members of your family because of standing
for the gospel of God's redemption in Christ Jesus, that's not easy. And it's not easy to go against
the popular religious tide. But our Lord said, be thou faithful
unto death, thou give thee a crown of life. And our master warns
us here by following the crowd, the popular religious crowd,
on the wide, broad road that leads to destruction, the liberal
road, the liberal road. Now what, secondly, in verse
15 he issues another warning. He warns us against false prophets,
false preachers. Now listen to the warning in
Matthew 7, 15 and 16, beware of false prophets. which come
to you in sheep's clothing, disguised as sheep. Yet, he said, within
they are greedy wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Now, there are two things here,
and I want you to listen to this. This is very important. You'll
learn something here if you listen for a moment. These false prophets,
these false preachers, do not identify themselves as glory
seekers, as hucksters who make merchandise of men, as hucksters
who glory in the flesh, but they come as ministers of righteousness. Now Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
that even Satan himself, in his subtlety and deceit, disguises
himself as an angel of light. And his ministers, it's no strange
thing that his ministers come as ministers of righteousness.
But now wait a minute, whose righteousness? Not God's righteousness,
not Christ's righteousness, not a righteousness which is ours
by substitution, but your righteousness. They'll come preaching righteousness,
but your righteousness. You do this, and do that, and
do the other, and God will reward you, and God will bless you,
and God will save you if you do these things. They're going
about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God. And these are satanic
preachers. These are false prophets. Now
watch the next thing about them. Christ said, they'll come to
you. They'll come to you disguised. They'll come to you as sheep
in wolf clothing. On the outside they appear to
be messengers of holiness, but on the inside they're greedy
wolves that seek their own glory and not God's glory. Now watch
this. And Christ said, you shall know them by their fruits. Now
this has been one of the most misused misquoted, misapplied,
and abused passages of Scripture in the whole Bible. You shall
know them by their fruits. And everybody goes around inspecting
one another and saying, now I can tell you who's saved and who's
lost by their fruits. You shall know them. I can tell
you who knows God and who doesn't know God. I'm a good fruit inspector.
By their fruits shall you know them. This has nothing to do
with believers. This Scripture, now look at it.
You read the Bible. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 15
through verse 20, our Lord repeats twice, you shall know them by
their fruits. And both times he's talking about
false prophets. He said, beware of false prophets.
They'll come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're
greedy wolves. The way to recognize a false
prophet is by his fruits. What are the fruits of a false
preacher? You know what they are? His converts. That's right. His converts. His
converts are the product of his ministry. His converts are the
product of his message. His converts are the product
of his methods. And the way to recognize a false
prophet is by his fruits. It's by his converts. It's by
the people that he's taught in the following hymn. They don't
know God, they don't know his word, they don't know Christ,
they do not know the gospel, they know just what that false
prophet taught them. Now listen to this, verse 18
and 20 says, A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit, and a
bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. And a false prophet cannot,
with a false message, and another gospel, and another spirit, and
another Jesus, produce a son of God. He can't do it. And by
their fruits, ye shall know them." Our Lord warns us about false
prophets. He warns us to try the spirits,
whether they be of God. All right, here's the third warning
now he issued, listen to it, in verse 22 and 23. Our Lord
warns us against hoping for eternal life on the basis of our own
works. Now, my friends, you need to
listen carefully to this, and I need to listen to it, because
this is so dangerous. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. It's not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy he has saved us.
Now you listen to verse 22 and 23. Many, there's that word again,
many, shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
preached in your name? And in your name cast out devils?
And in your name done many wonderful works? And I shall say unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, depart from me,
ye that work iniquity." Our Lord is warning us here in these verses
against building a hope for eternity on our works, on what we have
done in the name of and even for Jesus Christ. I admire people
that are faithful to the gospel and who are faithful to the church
and who are faithful to the kingdom of God and who are charitable
and gracious and good and kind and do good works. But salvation
is not by works, it's by grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, it's not
of works, lest any man should boast. And our Lord warns us
here, beware, do not go through the experience of death and wind
up at the judgment and stand before God and start pleading
for mercy on the basis of what you've done. Pleading for grace
on the basis of what you've done for God. Salvation, eternal life,
is not something you do for God, it's something God does for you.
The wages of sin is death, that's the result of what we've done.
But the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. I don't care how much you pay
for a gift, how little you pay for it, it ceases to be a gift
if you contribute anything to it. Now what's the fourth warning? He warns us, verse 24 and 25,
he warns us He warns us about following the
crowd, and he warns us about listening to false preachers.
He said, you take heed what you hear. Now, I know he tells us
take heed what we preach, but you better take heed what you
hear and who you hear. And he warns us against building
a hope for eternal life on what we've done. And then he warns
us here against laying a false foundation. And here is the The
essence of the whole thing. Here's where the work needs to
be done. Here's the important part. The foundation. The root.
The root. The branches are not so important.
The tree. The house. It's the foundation
that's important. Old Job said, the root of the
matter is in me. His friends sat around him. I
don't believe you know God. I don't believe you're saved.
I don't believe you're this, that, and the other. He said, I'll
tell you this. The root of the matter is in me. The foundation
is right. And listen to our Lord in verse
24. He said, therefore, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man that built
his house on a rock. And the rain descended, and the
winds blew, and the floods came, and beat upon that house. It
fell not, for it was founded on a rock." It was founded on
a rock. Now, in this scripture, I don't
need to read it all, but here are two men who felt a need for
a refuge. Here are two men who were aware,
some reason, for some reason, they were aware of a coming storm. They were aware that they needed
a hiding place, they needed a dwelling place, they needed a refuge from
this coming storm of God's wrath. So both of them began to build. Both of them began to build a
religious home, a hope, a refuge. And both of them completed their
houses. Two builders built a house. Each one of them built a house.
And they completed this house, and they moved in. And evidently
they rested in those houses. Well, the scripture says, then
the testing time came. Then. I don't know how long it
was. It might have been months, weeks, or years. But then the
testing time came. The storm came. The storm of
trial. The storm of death. The storm
of accounting. The storm of judgment. The storm
of God's wrath. And one house fell, and the scripture
says, great was the fall of it. Great was the fall. And if it's
your house, and if it's your only house, and if it's your
eternal house, brother, great is the fall of it. And the other
stood, it fell not. And the only reason given, one
of them was founded on a rock. One of them was founded on a
rock. Now, this other house was built on the sand, the wrong
foundation. It was built quickly, it was
built without much effort, it was built without much concern,
and it turned out to be a false refuge, and it fell. But the other house, the first
thing I know about this other house is this. In Luke 6, verse
48, our Lord describes this same thing, this same parable, and
he said, this man that built his house on a rock, now listen,
he digged deep. He digged deep, that's what it
says, and found the rock. Now, it took him some time to
dig. He spent more time underground
than he did on top of the ground. He spent more time making sure
that his house was on the right foundation than he did putting
up the structure. While this other fella felt the
need of a refuge, the need of a house, he just grabbed a hammer
and a saw and a few boards and went out there and put him a
house up overnight practically. While this neighbor next door
was excavating and digging and going down searching and seeking
and hunting a rock. And when he found that solid
rock, he laid his foundation on that rock. That was his foundation. And then he built his house.
And when the storm of trial and death and judgment and wrath
came, this house that was built so quickly, without much concern,
without much effort, it was swept away, and this house stood. Let
me tell you something. It's far less trouble to eat
a wafer than to feed on the living God, and call it salvation, isn't
it? Huh? A lot less trouble. It's
a lot easier to receive a few drops of water on your brow than
to seek the fountain of life. and be cleansed and purified
and bathed in the blood of Christ. Isn't that right? It's a lot
easier. It's a lot easier to walk an aisle than to seek the
Lord. It's a lot easier to shake a
preacher's hand than to reach up as an empty-handed beggar
and grasp the hand of omnipotence and say, Lord, I need help. It's
a lot easier to tell a priest that you've sinned than to go
into the closet with a publican and plead for mercy and grace
in the name of Jesus Christ, isn't it? It's a whole lot easier
to be identified with a church than to be identified and united
with a despised substitute, the Christ of the cross. It's a whole
lot easier to quit a few bad habits and call it salvation
than to wait upon the Lord and be regenerated and be renewed
and made a new creature. Oh, I know, I know, we're living
in the day of instant religion. The conviction is gone. We live
in the day of instant religion. The struggle is all gone. The
counting the cost. Our Lord said, let him sit down
and count the cost. Whosoever of you that be, whosoever
of you that taketh not up his cross and followeth me cannot
be my disciple. Those days are gone now. The
day of seeking the Lord is gone. Men make a profession today and
they're preaching tomorrow. They make a profession today
and they're teaching Sunday school tomorrow. But that's not the
way it was in God's Word. Our Lord said, now listen to
me, ye shall seek me and find me when you search for me with
all your heart, with all your heart. It's not seeking the right
church and the right doctrine, the right baptism, seeking the
Lord. Listen to the word of God, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh
not all that he hath. Christ said, if any man come
to me, and hate not his mother and father and brother and sister
and husband and wife, yea, his own life also. He cannot be my
disciple. Count the cost. Count the cost. You say, Preacher, it sounds
like you're discouraging men from a profession of faith, rather
than encouraging men to faith in Christ. No, no, that's not
true. That's not true at all. I am discouraging men from a
careless, thoughtless, hurried, half-hearted profession of religion. I'm calling upon men who really
want to know God to seek the Lord. I'm telling you, this little
careless, flippant, instant religion will leave you empty, as empty
as those who preach it. Our Lord said people come from
the land and sea to make one proselyte for their religion,
and after they've made him, he's two-fold more the child of hell
than they are. And these little instants Instant
religious professions and easy believism will leave you without
God and without hope. My friends, the Bible doesn't
know anything about a doormat named Jesus, that you can shake
the preacher's hand and give some mental assent to a few facts
about him and walk on him the rest of your life. The Bible
doesn't know anything about a fire escape called Jesus, no sir.
The Bible doesn't know anything about a Savior who will be your
Savior from hell and not the Lord of your life. The Bible
doesn't know anything about that kind of Jesus. And I'm not discouraging
people, I'm encouraging them. But I'm encouraging them to do
what this man did, what our Lord said. Seek the Lord. Dig deep and lay that foundation
on the rock on Christ Jesus. I'm urging men who are building
a home and a hope for eternity, a spiritual house, if you expect
it to stand, the trials of life, if you expect that religious
profession of yours to stand the trials of sickness and sorrow
and suffering, if you expect that religious profession to
stand the trial of satanic opposition and temptation, if you expect
that religious profession to stand and hold and keep you at
the time of death, if you expect that religious profession, that
eternal hope, that refuse to keep you in the day of judgment,
And I'm telling you to search the Scripture, to count the cost,
to seek the Lord, to seek the foundation that God has given,
that God has laid. Now listen to the Scripture.
Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ
the Lord. Paul, before he left those people
at Ephesus, he says, I commit you to the Word of God. I commit
you to God. I commit you to His Word. that's able to build you up,
strengthen you, and establish you, and that's what I'm saying
to you who are listening to me today. I don't urge you to rush
into religious profession, and rush into baptism, and rush into
membership in the church, and rush into these things. I'm telling
you to stand back and look at God's Word, and ask the Holy
Spirit to convince you of sin. Ask the Spirit of the Living
God to show you your need. Ask the Spirit of God to shut
your mouth. That's right. Everybody whom God saves, the
first thing he does is shut his mouth. Read that in Romans 3,
verse 19. What the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty before God. Ask God to show you
what you are. Ask God to reveal Christ to you.
Ask God to reveal Christ as your hope and your Lord and your Savior,
and to give you the will, and to give you the desire, and give
you the hunger and thirst to reach out. and lay hold on Christ,
embrace Him, and receive Him, and bow to Him, own Him as Lord
and Master, and walk with Him, and give you that grace which
is sufficient for every trial. I want you to look at a scripture
in Isaiah 28, verse 16. Will you turn over there a moment?
Isaiah 28, 16. God says, Thus saith the Lord,
Behold, and that gets your attention, behold. Behold, I lay in Zion,
The church, Zion is the church. I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone. This is a rock. That's what that
man built his house on was a rock. And he says, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. And he that believeth will never
be ashamed, will never make haste. What is this stone? What is this
foundation? What is this rock? What is this
precious cornerstone? It's Christ. Jesus Christ is
all to the Father and He's all to the sinner. And He's all in
redemption. Now, my friends, there was a
time when this world wasn't made. There was a time when that moon
and sun and stars did not shine. There was a time when this world
was not here, the valleys, the beautiful mountains of this beautiful
state, and the valleys and the creeks and the rivers were not
there, and man as a creature was unknown. If Christ is all,
where was he then? Well, the scripture says, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He said,
glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. And then there was a time when
this world was made. when God Almighty, by a miracle of His
power, put that sun out there to give light and life and strength
and heat. And there was a time when God
put those stars, each in its given place, following its given
orbit. There was a time when God built
this world and raised the mountains and spread out the deserts and
the valleys and planted the trees and the flowers and put man.
Where was Christ? If He's all, where was He then?
All things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. Colossians says it's all made
for him, too. There was a time when sin came
into this world. God's beautiful valley was vested
by sin. Darkness fell upon the earth.
Darkness and death and disease fell upon man. Oh, what a terrible
day when gloom and satanic power and lies covered this world and
changed the nature of the animals and brought blight and ruin to
God's creation and death to God's man. If Christ is all, where
was he then? But I'll tell you where he was.
He was the promise of redemption. He was the light to a dark world.
He was the life to a dead world. For in that hour God announced
redemption through the seed of the woman, Genesis 3.15. He said
to the serpent, I'll put enmity between you and the woman between
your seed and her seed. Christ, the virgin born son,
he'll crush your power. He'll destroy your government.
He'll clean out your whole power. That's right. Well, at the time
when this world had lasted for 4,000 years and religion was
down in nothing but superstition, hypocrisy, and idolatry. It looked
like nobody really knew God. And if Christ is all, where was
he then? He came down to this world in
human form. He came to a manger, to a young
woman named Mary and a man named Joseph, and God announced, peace
on earth, goodwill toward men, unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. Christ the Lord. He
was Lord in the manger and he was Lord on that cross and he's
Lord now at the right hand of the Father. There's a time coming
when all men shall stand before God and be judged. The scripture
says the books are going to be opened. And the dead are going
to be judged out of those things written in the books. If Christ
is all, where will he be then? John 5.22 says, the Father judges
no man. He hath committed all judgment
to the Son. He's the judge. The Lamb is now the Lion. The
Savior is now the Judge. Well, there's a time coming when
This earth shall be no more. God's going to make a new earth
and a new heaven. Righteousness shall cover the earth like the
waters cover the sea. If Christ is all, where will
he be then? I'll tell you. God Almighty said that in all
things he might have preeminence, for he hath given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ every
knee shall bow in heaven, in earth, and in hell, and every
tongue shall confess that he is Lord. to the glory of God
the Father. He's the foundation. God said,
I've laid in Zion from eternity past to eternity future. I've
laid in Zion for a foundation, a stone, an immovable stone,
an indestructible stone, an immutable stone, and that stone is Christ.
And I'll tell you this, now listen to me, I'm going to close with
this. He said it's a tried stone. A tried stone. Now most, you
folks that are trusting your feelings for salvation, Well,
the reason I know why I'm a saved preacher, I feel, say, well,
you have to wait till the judgment to see if you feel saved enough.
That's right. Because you just couldn't be
weighed in the balances and found warning. God's going to try your
profession. He's going to try your foundation. That's right.
They built their houses, and then the storm came, the overflowing
scourge of God's wrath, and tried those houses, and one of them
fell. One of them fell. That other
one stood. It was founded on a rock. And you say, well, I
know I'm saved because I had a beautiful experience. Well,
all right now, so be it. You rest in that, but that experience
is going to be tried. Tried by God's holiness. Tried
by God's white throne. Tried by God's righteousness. Might not hold up. But now this
stone, God said, I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone that's
already been tried. That's right, Christ already
been tried. First of all, he was tried by Satan. Satan took
him up on that mountain, 40 days without food. and tried him,
and he did not fail. And then he was tried by the
law. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
condemned sin in the flesh. Christ met the law, and he obeyed
it in every jot and tittle. He fulfilled all righteousness. So I don't have to worry about
Satan. Christ has already been tried, and I in him. I don't
have to worry about the law. I've already been tried in Christ
and succeeded victoriously. Then he was tried by sin. He
was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. So I
don't have to worry about sin. And then he was tried by men.
And Pilate said, I find no fault in him. And then he was tried
by death. And death couldn't hold him, he arose, and then
he was tried by God. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? See that? He said, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone that's already been tried. And he that
believeth on him will never be ashamed. There's some folks who
are going to say, I preached in your name who are going to
be ashamed, cast out devils, did many wonderful works, going
to be ashamed. But those who believe on Christ will never
be ashamed. This message is on tape. If you
want it, you write to me. Until next week, at this same
time, I bid you a very pleasant good day.

Founded Upon a Rock

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