[0:00] I want us to look this morning at the concluding words that we read in Luke chapter 6. From verse 46 down to verse 49.
[0:14] The image that is presented there by Jesus as he taught his people. There is a passage that is likely known by most of us.
[0:26] It's likely that we read it in children's Bibles. Maybe heard about it at Sunday school. And it sets forth a comparison between two men.
[0:40] The man that built his house upon a foundation. And the man that built his house on a non-foundation. Who didn't have a foundation to build upon.
[0:52] But it says in this image that each man is like something. You'll see. Let me just read that first passage from verse 46.
[1:03] Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them. I will show you what he is like. The first man.
[1:14] He is like a man building a house. He dug deep and laid foundation on the rock. And then we have another man. Verse 49.
[1:25] But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. And we know what happened to each house.
[1:38] Why is Jesus comparing these two men? Why is Jesus setting this image of two builders before the people? Well, it is to say and explain and to plead with them.
[1:51] To hear his words. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them. He wants the people to hear his words and act upon them.
[2:06] To practice everything that he has just been teaching them in their lives. To live by these instructions that he has been teaching them. And that they would be people that trust upon his words, his ways and his teaching.
[2:22] Now, everyone here has heard the gospel. I am sure of that. But the question is, what have we done with it?
[2:36] Jesus here is teaching the people. And then he is asking them to do something with it. We have all heard the gospel many times.
[2:47] What have we done with it? Or rather, what are we doing with all that we have heard? The context of this chapter, of what we have read, it highlights further importance.
[3:04] This image of the two builders, it appears twice in the Bible. It appears in the Gospel of Matthew as well. And you may have in your mind the wise builder and the foolish builder.
[3:18] They are not stated here. That comes from the Gospel of Matthew. The foolish built his house in the sand. Again, it is not stated here. But you have that image in your head.
[3:29] The wise man who built on the rock. The foolish man who built on the sand. But every time, well, the both times that he uses it, it serves as a conclusion to all that he had been teaching the people.
[3:44] And you see here from the first section that we read in verse 17, it states that he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples, people of different areas who came to hear.
[4:04] And he taught them. This is a sermon on the plain, it is said. A sermon that took place on level ground. All these words that we read through is how Jesus instructed the people who were set before him.
[4:21] Challenging words, difficult words, encouraging words. But he concludes by saying this, well, explaining this image of the two builders.
[4:34] What are you going to do with all that you have heard? Both times he says this. The other time in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount. And the content of both are very similar.
[4:47] Some people say that it may even be the same account. But we're not entirely sure. There are differences, there are similarities. Regardless, both times, Jesus is pleading with them, really.
[5:03] Listen to what I've been saying to you. And hear my instruction. What are you going to do with it? He's asking for people to be people who bear good fruit by listening to his words.
[5:22] People who give a genuine profession, calling him Lord, Lord, by listening to his words. He's calling to them to do what they hear.
[5:38] He calls them to live by it. He asks for a personal response from everyone that is there. What are you going to do with it?
[5:50] He's asking them to consider their lives. How they walk. How they talk. How they act with one another. And it still stands true for us today to consider how we walk.
[6:05] How we speak. How we act with one another. How do we respond to all that is contained in the Word of God?
[6:17] How do we respond to the Gospel when it is preached to us? And considering these two builders, there's two foundational differences.
[6:28] Not just in the way they're built, but the one who does and the one who does not. And both differences are below surface level.
[6:42] They're hidden from direct view. You don't see the foundation that has been built. And it's largely unseen by others. But when it's realized is when it is tested.
[6:55] That's when the truth of the matter comes to light. So let us consider the one who does and then we'll consider the one who doesn't know it. Read with me in verse 47.
[7:09] Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. The man who built a house, he dug deep, laid the foundation on rock and when the flood arose, the stream broke against it.
[7:33] It could not be shaken because it was well built or it had been founded upon the rock. This man has been moved by the words of Christ in this image.
[7:50] Before building up, before setting forth, like I said to the kids, the beautiful, desirable things, they went down. It was a work of labor to dig deep, to search for what he had been taught.
[8:06] Maybe sifting his own life, his heart, to take out things that were uncertain in it, to take out things that wouldn't be good in his life to build upon, things that change, things that are uncertain.
[8:26] He is a man who sets his heart on something that is for him and to find it, to find something immovable, to find something that gives him certainty and stability in his life, something worthy, worthy to build his life upon, to build his home upon.
[8:47] Digging deep, it's not a life of ease of the evil man that we sung in Psalm 53. He was an evil man. He was looking for a way of ease in his life.
[9:00] Well, a man who digs deep is not like that. It's effort. He finds it. He seeks it out and finds it with all his heart.
[9:12] It's an exercise of faith to go and seek what is to be found, the rock. He trusts in the word that he has heard and he says in his mind that he must find it.
[9:25] He must seek it out. He must search the truth. He must not give up and if you think of these two builders, one is digging deep and the fool is looking for an easy way.
[9:38] He's looking just to build up the way and you can imagine the fool coming along and watching the wise man and saying to him, what are you doing?
[9:49] Why are you bothering to dig down the way? You don't need to dig down the way. I'm building my house here and it's fine. There's nothing wrong with it. It looks good.
[10:02] He's looking at, the fool is looking at the wise man digging and he thinks he's wasting his time. Do you know what? When I was down in Edinburgh last week and I came back on the bus just going back to the airport.
[10:18] Often people don't talk maybe like they used to but an elderly man sat in front of me at one of the tables that you have on the bus and we were facing each other and we got, I was just talking to him.
[10:33] It was good to talk to him and I was asking and he was telling me about himself. He was living abroad. He had come back. He had built a house abroad and he was living his life there.
[10:46] It seemed so great. He portrayed it so great and he was going to build a shed for all his artwork that he had gathered. He had 600 paintings and he needed this shed to be built to store everything because he had so many things in his life.
[11:05] The problem was to build a shed that was on a steep embankment and he said when the rain comes it washes everything away. I can't just build it there. I need to put proper drainage in and it was causing him all this hassle to put in this foundation for this shed to store the things of his life.
[11:25] And he was asking me then what do you do? And I said well I was an electrician but I'm down here for college. I'm training to be a minister. And he looked at me like I was a fool.
[11:39] He looked at me and he said you're no it was he was disappointed to hear that I was an electrician and I was now changed to be a minister.
[11:51] He just didn't and he was just like well you know I don't want to go and you know well done for what you're doing but the way he looked at me I just knew that he thought I was a fool for doing what I was doing.
[12:09] And we had our conversation and he was telling me all he had to tell me and I tried my best but we shook hands and we departed from one another as we left.
[12:22] But I was thinking after on this man well that is exactly what's going on. He doesn't he knows the rain's going to come and he knows he needs to prepare and build a proper foundation and he doesn't want to.
[12:40] He's got all these things of his life he wants to keep them. But it's going to be a bit of a pain for him just to sort out the foundations for this.
[12:53] He knows the storm is coming. We all know there's a storm coming in our lives. The uncertainties of our lives he the man knew he needed to prepare and we need to prepare.
[13:11] We need to prepare for the uncertainties of this life. We need to prepare for the storms that come. We need to prepare. The storm of God's judgment will come to us one day.
[13:25] We need to prepare. At what cost? It does not matter. We need to dig our foundation upon a rock that does not move.
[13:40] This man the wise man takes God's words seriously. He labors to find foundations in the word of God.
[13:51] He seeks to find solid ground and answers to all life's questions in the Bible. He's told to love his enemy. It's not easy. He's told not to judge one another.
[14:03] He's told to forgive one another. He's told to keep the Sabbath day. He's told to honour his parents. He's told to give of his possessions. They're not easy.
[14:14] They all cost dearly. They all ask for perseverance. perseverance. It's not a life of ease. But the Lord changes at heart to do these things.
[14:31] Again, I ask how many times have you heard the word of God? Do you regularly hear it here? Do you regularly hear it online? But how do we respond to it?
[14:44] What do we do with all that we have heard? And it's not a response to me or murder or any man that stands here. It's a response to Christ. What are you doing with the gospel?
[14:58] What are you doing with his message to you? His message of hope, his promises, his instruction. Do you place your faith on it?
[15:09] Do you trust in it? To do what he asks of us to do and to be the people that he asks us to be. And that we confidently trust in it.
[15:21] It's hard. We find confidence in Christ. We find confidence in his words.
[15:35] We find confidence that if we believe in this man, we shall have eternal life. What are you doing with the gospel message? are you building on it daily?
[15:50] Be the wise and not the fool. Foundations, as I said, they're often things that aren't seen afterwards. They're often things that go unseen as they've been built even.
[16:03] And the same is likewise when foundations are set in their own lives. Others don't see it. When the gospel comes to us, since first instance, we start seeking after God, maybe others don't see it.
[16:18] Some people can identify it, but largely it's a personal thing. It's within our hearts, and it's the groundwork of the Spirit at work, having a personal and effectual application in our soul, where we have been persuaded to trust in this rock, and we go and seek him out.
[16:39] Do you know that there is no better foundation for your life? The wee panda I had, when the foundation was secure, there was no worries of him falling.
[16:59] He was firm. Foundations that are firm, and the foundation that is the firmest of all in Jesus Christ gives us peace.
[17:12] We can be assured in that foundation that we will not fall, we will not be abandoned. Be the wise to trust in this gospel, because as we said, the man that went to build his shed abroad, he knew there was a storm, he knew the rains would come, and the storm will come in our lives too.
[17:41] Are we ready for the storm of God's judgment? Are we ready for the afflictions of this life even, that strain us and test us in so many ways?
[17:53] Where do we find our strength in the difficulties and storms of this life? Do we lean on ourselves, or are we leaning and trusting in something that is far firmer, and far sureer than anything that we can build?
[18:11] Such was the strength of the wise man that built his house upon the rock, that his house could not even be shaken when the storm came, because it had been well built, or it had been founded upon the rock.
[18:25] rock. You may know, you may have seen this, you may have seen this in your life, you may have seen someone go through extreme afflictions, a Christian, and you may wonder how can they endure such a trial?
[18:48] well, it's because of the foundations that they have. And as the Christians endure the trials of this life, as extreme as they may be, trusting in the rock of Jesus Christ, so we will stand in the final judgment of God.
[19:11] we will stand in that day, because we are founded on the rock that is Jesus Christ.
[19:24] And we can have confidence when we build our lives upon it. And you note there in the passage, that the wise man is building, verse 48, he is like a man building a house.
[19:41] It doesn't, well, when you compare it in verse 49, the one who hears and does not do them is like the man who built a house. You see the difference in it.
[19:54] And that is the language of the Greek, that the fool has built his house. It's almost as if it's complete, it's done, he's pleased with what he's made, it's ideal for him, he's happy with what he's got, it's built.
[20:11] My life is built, I've got everything I need. It's complete, but what happens to it? Because he's built it all himself, it's all his own life's ambition, it's all his own desire.
[20:27] As he's completed his life, what happens, it falls over. But the wise man, it says he is building a house. You see, it's not completed yet, it's not finished.
[20:39] And the fool, the fool may be looking at him saying, your house isn't even ready yet because he's spent so much time building your foundations. But the Christian builds daily.
[20:52] It's not finished. The Christian life's not finished and completed. We're building daily upon the rock, and even when the storms come and the house is not fully completed, it will stand purely because of the foundation it is on.
[21:12] The Christian has a sure foundation in his life or her life. The man who does has confidence, reassurance.
[21:25] he's not leaning upon his own works and what he's done. He's purely putting all his faith and confidence in the foundation, in the rock, in Christ and his words.
[21:42] That's what the Christian should be like, the one who does what Jesus asks of us. But we must consider the one who does not before we conclude.
[21:55] Verse 49, the one who hears and does not do them is like the man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, the stream broke against it, it immediately fell and the ruin of that house is created.
[22:11] Do you see the difference? The flood arose and the stream, the flood came and the stream broke against the house and it could not be shaken. It only took the stream to hit this house that the man had built himself without foundation and immediately fell.
[22:31] And what a great ruin it was. He did not listen, he did not hear these words. He is a man who does not think about eternity.
[22:44] Everything that he has heard, from the word of God, from the preaching that has been gospel that is preached wherever it is heard, is as if it goes in one ear and out the other.
[22:57] But in the same token, he's not a fool that says there is no God. Because at the beginning of that section, Christ says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?
[23:15] The fool is claiming to know who God is. He claims Lord, Lord, and that repetition emphasizes that he knew him deeply, closely, but he does not listen.
[23:31] He does not do the words of Christ. And you've got to ask yourself, well, who's the greater fool here? The one who hears the gospel and does not do it?
[23:45] Or the one who does not hear the gospel and does not seek after it? Who's the greater fool? And the one who claims that he knows?
[23:57] Or the one who claims that he does not know? Jesus says that the man who hears his word and does not do it is like the one who builds his house on the sand.
[24:11] The sand, the ground that moves. He does not go to the efforts of digging. He does not need to dig. He doesn't want to dig and spend all his money and time putting in proper foundations.
[24:26] He just wants a nice bit. He wants a nice house without the foundations. The bit that looks good to everyone else. It's as if he's the one that selects God's words.
[24:39] He professes God's name and he selects God's words as he likes. He does not do the difficult things that is asked of him. He just reminds himself that God is a God of love and God is a God that will forgive me.
[24:57] But that wouldn't be the right way to act to the word of God. We must hear it all. We must not try to justify ourselves by just taking the good bits of the Bible of his words and trusting in them.
[25:17] We're not looking for the it's not just the easy things. Christ asks difficult things of us. Hard things. The fool as we said on all appearances it looked well.
[25:35] But his house fell over. his house was built it was completed it was an achievement of his life but when the flood came it fell.
[25:52] He did not listen to the words. Christ is imploring the people to listen to everything that he has been taught. Everything he has been teaching them in his sermon says be wise to listen to these things that you may stand firm when judgment comes.
[26:15] And you know the man's house it was complete it may look it may look even more impressive than the one that wasn't complete the wise man's it may be more appealing to everyone else and often we are tempted as well when we look at people of this world and the things that they have and the possessions that they have earned we do incline at heart to these things we do desire these things and we may think that they've got it easier and far better than we have when we are struggling to build a house on the rock but we must remind ourselves what is it built upon where is his confidence where is his assurance when the storm comes the Christian's house is not moved it stands for him where his ruin was great it was realised when the flood came when that test came the afflictions of life come to us we would hope that he was a man that realised
[27:34] I was a fool to build what I had built and the storm has come and it has ruined me we would hope that he would have changed his ways and set about finding a firm foundation to build his life upon that he would have that same confidence that his house would not fall that we would be people likewise that when we see the Christian's faith and how they have endured such trials and we look at ourselves or look in the ways that we lived and we see that I struggled through these things my trials and my tribulations the
[28:35] Christian comes through them through the valley of the shadow of death he's led through there is a one who does not trust as the house ruined that they would be wise to see the way of the Christian the way of the man who listens to the word of God to set about building again because Christ does not ask us to prop up our house that we have built of our own making does not come with a word and say they shall prop for it it's just like Paul when he says I count all things as rubbish everything that he had earned in this life rubbish he's building his life again born again start again start on the rock build upon that build on the foundation that cannot be moved build on
[29:36] Christ start again clean the slate who are we in this story do we trust in the words of God every time the gospel has been preached here do we take it to our hearts do we strive to live our lives by it do we do what is asked of us are we wise or do we just is it just in one year and out the hill do we go away and then continue and building our own house and chasing after the achievements of our lives what does it come to at the end have eternity in view remember the storm will come which one stands consider yourself start start building your house maybe you've started building a foundation upon this word maybe it's unseen by many but every block that you lay may it be as the words that said as for me and my house
[30:59] I will serve the Lord and build as for me and my house I will serve the Lord with every block that you lay in the foundations and buildings of your life upon Jesus Christ as for me and my house we will serve the Lord I will serve him I will listen to his words I will obey him I will trust him I will do what he asks of me but there's a time isn't there when the foundation has been done that breaks the surface where it comes through and people start seeing what has been built and what you are building upon I don't know if that speaks to you have you a foundation built and is this week a week where you break the surface and you let the world know that I am serving the
[32:03] Lord I am building my life upon the rock of Jesus Christ that does not move and when he asks me to come and remember him that we would be people that do it that we trust in him that we would set our mind to trust in Christ the surest foundations of our lives that we do these things in remembrance of him and unashamedly say that I am building on the rock others may think you as fools but you are wise and wise in God's eyes and it will ultimately come to light who is wise and who is a fool but I plead with you hear these words build your life on the rock that does not shift that you would have peace and comfort and security for all the storms that come and the uncertainties of this life you will be ready for it build your life upon the rock build your life upon
[33:23] Christ trust in him obey his words and you shall stand for him eternally with God and Jesus Christ in heaven you shall be with him may these thoughts be blessed to us we'll conclude by singing in Psalm 125 you'll find that on page 419 of the blue book in the Scottish Psalter version from the beginning of that psalm they that in the Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion hill which at no time can be removed but standeth ever still let us stand and sing these words to
[34:24] God's praise they in the Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion hill we sing sing the whole of that psalm they in the Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion hill which at no time can be removed but standeth ever still as round about Jerusalem the mountains stand away the
[35:28] Lord his foe doth compass so from hands forth on for it for humans draw upon the Lord of just men shall not lie lest righteous men stretch forth their hands hands unto iniquity to thou to all those that be good thy goodness
[36:37] Lord impart and do thou good to those that are upright within their heart heart but as for such as turn aside after their crooked way God shall lead forth with wicked men on Israel thee shall stay
[37:42] I'll conclude with a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we give thanks for this time that we have had. we pray in preparations for this evening's service that we may have our hearts prepared to hear it.
[37:55] Speak to us, we pray. Be with us as we part what you over us, guide us, set our minds to Jesus Christ on the rock that does not move nor does change.
[38:06] May it us build daily upon it that we can have confidence and assurance in whom who does not move. May this be blessed to us all, the time which will show us as we part. Amen.
[38:22] But for for