What type of builder are you?

Matthew 7:24–27 ““Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.””

Building your faith on the solid foundation of Jesus’ teaching is vital to your ability to withstand life’s storms. All of us here today have a house – a life to build. How you build your life determines your destiny, not just your success in this life, but for eternity. How you build your life makes a difference between success and failure, between life and death, between reward and loss, and between standing and falling. Jesus teaches that there are only two types of builders, wise or foolish. One who is wise builds his house on a solid foundation; the foolish one builds his house on sand. There are some wise and foolish builders today; the wise builders build their lives on Jesus Christ, and the foolish builders build their lives upon the things of is world. The question that I asked you today is: What type of builder are you? To answer this question, I want us to look at the two builders.

I.  The Wise Builder

a.     Is a builder who has foresight because this builder figures that dry seasons will not last and that storms are a part of life.

b.     We as believers must have foresight when it comes to this life, for in this life, dry seasons (perfect conditions) will not last, storms will come because storms are a part of life. The wise builder in Palestine knew because of the sandy ground he needed to dig thirty feet deep before he found the rock.

c.     So this wise builder, when he begins to build, he doesn’t build just anywhere, but he chooses to build his house on the rock. The rock is a foundation that is strong, settled, and secure.

d.     The bible says in 1 Corinthians. 3:11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. In Eph 2:20 Paul calls Jesus the chief cornerstone.

But there is more to the foundation…let’s read 24 again!

e. Jesus states in v.24. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

•     The Wise Builder is called wise because he hears the words of Jesus and does them.

•     When Jesus gives you instructions found in His Word, and when you read it and do what Jesus says, you are wise builders, for you are building your life upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.

f.  In v.25 Jesus goes on to say “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house.”

Although the wise man listened to words of Jesus and did what he was told and built his house on the rock, he still encountered floods, winds that blew, that beat on his house.

•     Just because you are wise and you listen and obey Jesus’ words, and build your life upon the foundation of Jesus, it does not exempt you from storms.

g.  We face all sorts of storms. Storms of sickness, spiritual attacks, sorrow, stress, loneliness, sin, disappointments, pain, failure, abuse, lies, loss of loved ones.

h.     I cannot name them all, but you know the storms you’ve faced or the storms you are dealing with now!

i.      But this builder is considered wise, and it is because he listened and acted upon the Words of Jesus and built his house upon a rock, and this rock, this sure foundation, will help him withstand all storms. V25…the house did not fall, for it was founded (established) on the rock. Who is this rock? Jesus!

j.  When you build your life upon Jesus through the Word of God you will never fall, it doesn’t matter how bad the storm, oh, it might hurt, it may cause you to cry, but as long as your life is built upon the rock! You will never fall!!

k.     You don’t have to worry about storms of need… Jesus said in Matt.6:25-26

“Therefore I say to you, ? Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? ?26? ? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

l.      You don’t have to worry about storms of sorrow… Jesus said, this Jn 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

m.   You don’t have to worry about storms of death… 2 Tim 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.

II.  The Foolish Builder - Matthew 7:26 ““But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:”

a.  The word foolish in the Greek is moros it means stupid, it is where we get the word moron. The foolish builder is someone who builds a house, but something is different about this builder; he hears the instructions from Jesus, but he does not do them. Now, both builders have something in common…….

b. Notice the Wise builder hears the word and does it, the foolish builder hears the word and does not do it. This means that the foolish builder is someone who hears the Word of Jesus, but he decides not to do or obey the words of Jesus. This is why he is called foolish.

c. The foolish builder is in a dangerous position because this person thinks they know how to build their life the way they want it to be built, and their self-righteousness causes them not to build their life according to Jesus instructions. They have no need for Jesus telling them how to live.

d. And we have some people today who know some things about the Bible; they know what Jesus has instructed them to do with their lives, but they refuse to listen to the instruction. They are self-righteous, you know who I am talking about, they are the folks who know it all, you can’t tell them anything. They know all about the Bible, and so they don’t need to attend church, they don’t need anyone to teach them, they have the “I can build my life the way I want and can’t nobody tell me otherwise mentality.”

e. This person is a hearer of the word and not a doer, James 1:23-24  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. What James points out is what I see today from professing believers, who hear the word but are not doers of the word. If what they hear from the word doesn’t sit well with them they will reject it. They will refuse to repent and change their ways, and will walk away. Pretty foolish, right??

f.      V.26 says the foolish man built his house on the sand. The sand represents anything other than the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ. This is everything that is in the world: lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life!!

g.     V.27 I want you to notice what happens to the foolish man who built his house (his life) on sand. “and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Notice that his house (his life) did not fall immediately.

h. The foolish man's foundation gradually is worn away. First, the rains came down, and this can be seen as a warning signal of a greater danger coming ahead. We know that rain always comes before a great storm!!

i. Have the warning rains begun to come down on you, slowly eroding the foundation of your life, setting you up for a great fall?

j.  Then the floods came, and this really took a toll on the man’s house. These floods are trials that come rushing in, and since you have built your life on the sand of the world, you are being overwhelmed, and you are being washed away.

k.  Then the winds blew. No one can stop the wind, and winds blow from all directions. Since this man built his house on sand, and rain gradually took away the sand, and the floods rushed in and washed away the sand, the wind easily blew away the foolish man’s house.

l.  When you build your life on the sand of the world, you will be blown away and will not be able to stand against the storms of life.

m.   The person who builds on sand is hopeless.

Job said this in 8:13-15, “The hypocrite’s hope shall perish…he shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand.”

n.   Are you hypocritical in your faith? If so, your life will not stand against the storm.

o. Let me say this, you cannot wait until the storm hits to try to build a house, nor can you wait until the storm hits to try to build your life. It will be too late. Building a life that will withstand life's storms takes time and dedication. People will not take the time and dedication to build their life on Jesus Christ, and this is foolish!

p. Some people wait until their life collapses and falls apart, and only to find out that their life has no strong foundation. Because they rejected Jesus Christ who is the chief cornerstone.

1 Peter 2:6–7 “Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,””

q.     What happens if you reject to build your life upon Jesus Christ, and you keep playing with your life, pretending and fooling yourself that your life is built on something that is not there, while it is sitting on sand of this fallen world? If you have rejected Jesus Christ, your life will face great fall. I tell you a day is coming when Jesus will return, and it will be too late to build.

Luke 21:34–36 ““But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.””

So let me ask you again, what type of Builder are you?? Hopefully a Wise One who has built your life upon Jesus Christ!!