Matthew 7:24-29 – False Foundations – Bible study

Matthew 7:24-29 False Foundations Suppose I could tell you how to have a happy, prosperous, satisfying life, would you be interested? I hope so, because I canor rather, because Jesus did. This short simple parable contains the key for a happy, prosperous, satisfying life. Let me share three thoughts: I. The Parable Is about A Foundation A. The world "foundation" is not used in this parable, but that is the topic none-the-less. B. Foundations Are Essential 1. I Googled the internet with a question, "What is the most important part of a building?" a. The first four returns all spoke of the foundation in the titles. b. The fifth one had eleven points, but the first point of the eleven was the foundation. 2. So there you have it. a. Google has spoken, but this time, Google is correct. b. The foundation comes first and every other thing related to that building will be built on the foundation. c. If it is not a solid foundation, the whole structure is in jeopardy. 3. The Green Pond Baptist Church was not built on the best foundation. a. I am not throwing stones at anyone, but stating a fact. b. The Green POND Baptist Church is built on the Green POND. (1) We have installed a sump pump under the building to keep the water pumped out. (2) We have humidity gauges under the sanctuary to monitory the moisture. (3) We may have spent as much as $100-150,000 since I have been the pastor to attempt to redirect the water away from the water shed that is Green Pond. c. Why? Because if the foundation goes, the whole building is in jeopardy. C. Foundations are not just important to buildings. 1. Foundations are important to everything. 2. Jesus was not giving a sermon on how to construct a solid home but on how to construct a solid life, a solid family, a solid business, and a solid nation. 3. Everything built on a false foundation will fracture and fall. 4. Now while everything has a foundation, I dont have time to talk about everything so let me pick one thing. D. Lives have foundations: 1. And instead of me talking to everyoneat least for the next few momentslet me talk to the parents. 2. Often without realizing it, parents either build or allow their childrens lives to be built on false foundations. 3. False foundations: a. Education (1) Some children get the impression that they are to build their lives on the foundation of education. (2) Why wouldnt they? (a) Some parents part with their children soon after they are born and send them to day cares, schools, and colleges so that they are in those places from their earliest memories. (b) Most American children are in some sort of formal babysitting or learning center at least 8, 9, 10 or even 12 hours every day, five days a week, most every week of the year, for the first 18 to 22 years of their lives! (c) In such situations, some things are just logical. i. It is logical that a child would think that learning is the most important thing in their lives and use it as a foundation to build upon. ii. It is also understandable they some children might actually resent education, see it as the enemy that took them away from their parents, and so rebel against education. iii. It is also logical that educators would start to think of the children as theirs instead of the parents. (d) All of these things have and are happening. b. Work (1) Again, there is nothing most parents do more religiously than go to work. (a) Parents go when they want to, and they go when they dont. (b) They go when they are well; and they when they are not. (c) They go if they like their jobs; and they go if they dont. (2) Children watching that would have to think that work is important, foundational, and start to build their life around work. (a) Again, work is important. (b) I am not advocating being a bum. (c) But work is what you do to live not what you life to do. 4. There are other false foundations, but Jesus lumped all the false foundations into one category: sand. Matt 7:26 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: a. Understand, even sand will hold the house built on it for a time. (1) According to Jesus parable, the house built on the sand stoodfor a time. (2) It stood long enough to be built, long enough to get a family inside of it, long enough for the family to think the foundation was solid and sure, long enough for them to trust their home and rely on its foundation. b. But when the storm came, it fell! c. In the end of every structure built on sand buildings, lives, marriages, businesseswill have the same end. d. It will fall. II. The Parable Is about A Message. A. Jesus was attempting to convey a message. Matt 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine Matt 7:28 the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 1. The parable was not the message. It is the conclusion to the message. a. The message began in Matthew 5 and continued until the end of chapter 7. b. It is often called the Sermon on the Mount. c. It is the longest message of Jesus that the Bible recorded, and all of it is the message this parable was warning about. d. The parable we have read is the conclusion to that message. 2. The parable is not just the conclusion to this message. It is the conclusion to all that Jesus taught. a. Jesus never spoke any words that were not true. b. All of the words that Jesus spoke and the Bible recorded were powerful, practical, life changing. c. All of the words Jesus spoke and the Bible recorded are THE word of God, all of them. d. So any message of Jesus is a foundation that you can build your life upon. 3. But then the parable is not just the conclusion to Jesus words but to the entire Bible. a. The whole Bible is the Word of God, is it not? (1) Not one word of this Bible is false. (2) Every word is powerful, practical, and life changing. b. So the parable is the conclusion to all of the Bible. B. What then is the message that Jesus is conveying? 1. If you build on the Bible, the Word of God, you house will stand. 2. If you build on anything else, it is sand and your house will fall. 3. That is the message of this parable. a. I may embellish. b. I may elaborate on it. c. But that is the message of the parable C. Lost people, this message is to you. Matt 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. D. Saved people, this message is to you too. 1. Do you realize the Bible is not written primarily to the lost but to the saved a. There are tidbits in the Bible for the lost. (1) \#Matt 7;22-23\ (2) \#John 3:16\ b. But the Bible is written to the saved. 2. Yet so many of the saved do NOT build their lives on it. a. You wonder why your marriage falls apart, you business fails, your children make a mess of their lives. b. I am trying to be ugly but it could be because you did not build your life upon the Word of God. III. The Parable Is about A Flood. A. Notice that no matter what you build your house on, the sand of false foundations or the rock of the solid foundation, the flood will come! 1. There are two builders here, one wise and one foolish. 2. There are two foundations here, one rock and one sand. 3. There are two outcomes here, one house will stand and one house will fall. 4. But there is only one location to build the house on, in the path of the flood. a. No matter whether build by the wise or the foolish, no matter whether build on rock or sand, no matter whether the house stands of falls, they are both build in the river bed, in the place where the floods will come. b. Why? Because the floods come to all. (1) There is no place you build that the floods will not reach and there is no wisdom that can keep the floods from coming, and there is no foundation that can divert the floods away. (2) The floods of life come to all. 5. Sad but true. a. This parable is not about stopping the flood. b. This parable is about withstanding the flood. B. Your life house is in the path of a flood. So is mine. So is everyones. 1. Over the last few weeks, the floods of death came barging into the lives of several of church families. 2. But the flood does not have to be death. a. It can be sickness, loss of a job, betrayal of a friend, a financial loss, or a few hundred other things. b. The point is, floods will come. 3. If your house has not been hit by the flood yet, just wait. a. It will. b. And so will mine. C. Your familys house is in the path of a flood. So is mine. So is everyones. 1. We have six children, five children added by marriage, and the 19th grandchild to be delivered this week, and the 20th already on the way. 2. I am far more concerned for their lives now than for mine. 3. I do not ask God to give them a long life but a godly one. D. Our national house is in the path of a flood. 1. Our nation has made some very foolish and costly decisions. a. We ruled God out. b. We legislated sin in. c. And we are voting for the devil and socialism. 2. This concerns me. a. I have attempted to build by house on the Rock of Jesus Christ, but if the nation is swept away, my family will be impacted as well. b. However, every time I ask God what I can do to help our nation, the answer comes back the same, "Preach the gospel to every creature!" IV. This Parable Is About What to Do. A. The overall point of this parable is to build on the Rock, Jesus Christ. 1. If you are a parent, build your childrens lives on the Word of God. 2. If you are a young Christian, build your life on the Word of God. 3. If you are starting a family or a business, build them on the Word of God. B. But what if you are not starting a building? 1. What if you are older and your life is already built on a false foundation? 2. What if your family is about grown and you built it on a false foundation? Maybe it has even fallen and broken up? 3. What do you do then? a. You lay the right foundation, the Word of God, and start building on it, gradually moving as much as you can of the old onto the new foundation. b. You will not be able to move everything, at least not at first, but you keep building and moving as much as you can to the new, and you will be amazed at what God will do. Will your house stand when the flood comes?