06/07/2026 AM - A Home Built on the Rock
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Matthew 7:24–27
This morning we are beginning a new Sunday morning series called Strength for the Home.
Our theme this year has been Strengthened for Service.
One of the places where we need God’s strength the most is in the home.
When the home is weak, almost everything else in life feels heavier.
When the home is strong in the Lord, it becomes a place of blessing, encouragement, discipleship, and service.
All of us come to this subject from a different place.
Some are building a marriage, some are repairing one, some are preparing for one, and some are praying for the next generation.
All of us have been shaped by a home, and all of us need God’s strength for the home.
Jesus tells us where every strong home must begin.
Matthew 7:24–27 says,
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
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.
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:
27 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.
Jesus gives us a picture everybody can understand.
Two men built two houses.
From the outside, they may have looked very similar.
But the real difference was not what people could see above the ground.
The real difference was what the house was resting on underneath.
One house was built on rock.
The other house was built on sand.
The difference did not show up until the storm came.
That is true in every part of home life.
Storms reveal foundations.
Pressure, conflict, temptation, and disappointment all have a way of showing what we have really been building on.
This morning I want to give you three truths about building a home that stands.
I. Build on the Right Foundation
I. Build on the Right Foundation
The first issue in any home is not how good things look on the outside.
The first issue is what the home is built on underneath.
A home is strong when it is built on Christ and His Word.
A. Hear Christ
A. Hear Christ
Jesus said the wise man “heareth these sayings of mine.”
The strong home begins by listening to Christ.
Not just listening to culture, feelings, friends, past hurts, or whatever seems easiest in the moment.
The wise builder listens to Christ.
We let Christ define marriage, love, purity, forgiveness, faithfulness, and the home itself.
One of the great dangers today is that many people want God to bless a house they designed without ever asking Him for the blueprint.
They build dating around attraction, marriage around personal happiness, parenting around convenience, and conflict around winning.
Then, when the house begins to shake, they wonder why it is not standing.
But Jesus says the wise man begins by hearing His words.
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Jesus takes marriage back to God’s design.
Marriage is not man’s invention.
Marriage is not just a legal contract.
Marriage is a covenant designed by God, defined by God, and accountable to God.
If you are young, decide now what marriage is before your heart gets involved.
If you are single, remember that your life is not on hold.
If you are dating, ask whether the relationship is helping you hear and obey Christ.
If you are married, do not only ask, “Are we happy?”
Ask, “Are we surrendered?”
And if you did not start right, there is grace.
You cannot rebuild yesterday, but you can come to Christ today.
B. Obey Christ
B. Obey Christ
Jesus does not only say the wise man hears His sayings.
He says the wise man hears them and does them.
That is the difference between a house with religious decorations and a house with a real foundation.
A Bible on the table does not make a strong home if the Word is not obeyed in the heart.
Church attendance alone does not make a strong home if Christ is ignored in the living room.
James 1:22 says,
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Sometimes the problem is not that we do not know what Christ says.
It is that we do not do what Christ says.
We know we should speak kindly, forgive freely, confess honestly, guard our eyes, and love sacrificially.
But knowing the truth is not the same as building on it.
The wise home is not the perfect home.
It is the surrendered home.
So build on Christ.
Hear His Word.
Obey His Word.
Trust His Word.
II. Follow the Right Design
II. Follow the Right Design
Once the foundation is right, the house still has to be built according to the right design.
Nobody builds a house well by guessing.
A home needs God’s design.
Genesis 2:24 says,
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
God designed marriage as a covenant companionship between one man and one woman.
He designed it with leaving.
He designed it with cleaving.
He designed it with becoming one flesh.
A. Leave What Weakens the Home
A. Leave What Weakens the Home
Genesis says a man shall leave his father and his mother.
That does not mean he stops honoring them.
It means marriage creates a new earthly priority.
Leaving is more than moving out of a house.
Leaving is maturity.
Some marriages struggle because old patterns are never surrendered to Christ.
It may be childishness, old expectations, family control, past wounds, a sharp tongue, selfish spending, suspicion, or spiritual laziness.
Sometimes we excuse it by saying, “This is just how I am.”
But the grace of God does not leave us trapped in “this is just how I am.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Christ changes people.
Christ changes the way we build.
If you are young, let God teach you responsibility, self-control, honesty, purity, and humility now.
If you are dating, ask, “Are we both growing in maturity, or are we just enjoying attention?”
If you are married, ask, “What old pattern am I still dragging into this marriage that God wants me to leave behind?”
B. Cleave With Commitment
B. Cleave With Commitment
Genesis says the man shall “cleave unto his wife.”
That word has the idea of holding fast.
It is covenant language.
It is not casual.
It is not temporary.
It is not “as long as this is easy.”
It is a committed joining together before God.
Our culture often treats relationships like products.
If I like it, I keep it.
If it stops satisfying me, I trade it in.
If the cost gets too high, I cancel the agreement.
But biblical marriage does not use consumer language.
It is covenant language.
Malachi 2:14 calls marriage “the wife of thy covenant.”
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, Against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: Yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
Marriage is not merely a relationship between two people.
The Lord is witness.
That should sober us, but it should also strengthen us.
If God designed marriage, then God knows how to strengthen marriage.
Living together before marriage may seem normal now, but normal is not the same as biblical.
Sharing the privileges of marriage without the covenant of marriage is not God’s design.
Sexual intimacy outside of marriage may be accepted by culture, but Hebrews 13:4 says,
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
God is not trying to rob people of joy.
He is protecting the holiness of what He created.
For those who have already failed in this area, hear me carefully.
The answer is not shame.
The answer is repentance and grace.
There is no need to pretend sin is not sin.
But there is also no need to pretend sin is greater than the blood of Jesus Christ.
If you are dating and the relationship is not honoring God, turn around now.
Set new boundaries.
Seek wise counsel.
Obey God from here.
If you are married and you did not begin God’s way, do not live under constant shame.
Bring it to the Lord.
Receive His forgiveness.
Begin strengthening the covenant now.
III. Prepare for Real Storms
III. Prepare for Real Storms
Jesus said the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew.
He says that about both houses.
That means a strong foundation does not prevent storms.
It prepares you to stand through them.
The wise man had a storm too.
The difference was not the absence of a storm.
The difference was the foundation under the house.
Every home will face storms.
There will be conflict, disappointment, temptation, financial pressure, sickness, parenting burdens, grief, and seasons when life is heavier than expected.
Jesus never promised that obedience would keep rain from falling.
He promised that obedience would make the house stand.
A. Watch the Small Cracks
A. Watch the Small Cracks
The rain descended.
Rain can represent the steady pressures that come into every home.
Work pressure.
Schedules.
Bills.
Fatigue.
Miscommunication.
Unmet expectations.
Rain may not destroy a house in one moment, but steady rain can do great damage when the foundation is weak.
Many marriages are not damaged by one huge event at first.
They are weakened by steady neglect.
No prayer.
No tenderness.
No real conversation.
No confession.
No forgiveness.
No spiritual leadership.
No guarding of the heart.
Drip by drip, the home weakens.
15 Take us the foxes, The little foxes, that spoil the vines: For our vines have tender grapes.
The little foxes matter.
The little attitudes, secrets, bitterness, sarcasm, and spiritual compromises matter.
If you are dating, do not ignore the little foxes because you are afraid to be alone.
If you are married, do not ignore the little foxes because you are tired of dealing with them.
Small things become big things when they are left in the dark.
B. Stand Through the Storm
B. Stand Through the Storm
Jesus said the floods came and the winds blew.
Floods are the moments when life rises higher than you expected.
A diagnosis.
A betrayal.
A job loss.
A wayward child.
A financial crisis.
A death in the family.
A painful discovery.
A flood makes you ask, “Can this house survive?”
This is where we must be compassionate.
Some people have been through things in marriage that should never have happened.
Some have been sinned against deeply.
Some have been betrayed, abandoned, or lived with fear.
When we preach hope, I do not want preach it in a way that minimizes real pain.
God does not ask us to pretend the flood is only a puddle.
But He does call us to bring the flood to Him.
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
God is not only present when the house looks peaceful.
He is present in trouble.
Hope does not mean ignoring reality.
Hope means God is still greater than reality.
If the home is going to stand, it cannot be built on the sand of the age.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
A Christian home will have to be different.
It may look strange to the world.
It may seem old-fashioned to some.
But what is normal in the world is not working very well.
Normal is broken homes.
Normal is casual purity.
Normal is disposable commitment.
Normal is spiritual indifference.
Normal is resentment instead of repentance.
Normal is silence instead of prayer.
We do not need normal.
We need biblical.
We need homes built on the Rock.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
That is the kind of holy decision many homes need today.
Not perfection.
Not pretending.
Not blaming.
Not waiting for the other person to go first.
Just a humble return to the Lord.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus ends the picture with two very different outcomes.
One house fell not.
The other house fell, and great was the fall of it.
The difference was the foundation.
A beautiful house with a bad foundation is still in danger.
A plain house on a strong foundation is safer than a beautiful house on sand.
The same is true in the home.
You can have nice pictures, a good reputation, and a marriage that looks fine from a distance, and still be weak underneath.
But here is the hope.
Foundations can be inspected.
Weak places can be strengthened.
Cracks can be repaired.
Homes can be brought back under the authority of the Builder.
And by the grace of God, you can start from where you are.
If you did not start right, start strengthening the home now.
If you have already made mistakes, bring them to Christ now.
If your marriage has cracks, do not ignore them.
If you are young and marriage feels far away, build your life on the Rock now.
If you are single, your life can still stand strong in Christ now.
If you are tired and unsure whether your home can change, take one obedient step today.
The call this morning is simple.
Come back to the foundation.
Hear Christ.
Obey Christ.
Follow His design.
Prepare for the storms.
Let Him strengthen the home from here.
If you do not know Christ as your Saviour, this is where the foundation truly begins.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Christ is the foundation.
Not religion.
Not good intentions.
Not family tradition.
Not self-improvement.
Christ.
If your life has been built on sand, come to Christ today.
If your home has been built on sand, come back to Christ today.
If your marriage has been shaken, come back to Christ today.
If your marriage is still ahead of you, build on Christ today.
The rains will come.
The floods will come.
The winds will blow.
But the life built on Christ and His Word can stand.
You may not be able to rebuild the past, but by God’s grace you can strengthen the home from here.
Invitation
With heads bowed and eyes closed, let me ask you first, do you know Christ as your Saviour?
Have you personally trusted Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and save your soul?
Christian, what is the Lord showing you about your foundation?
Maybe you need to surrender your marriage again to Christ.
Maybe you need to confess a wrong attitude.
Maybe you need to ask forgiveness from your spouse.
Maybe you need to set new boundaries in a dating relationship.
Maybe you need to talk to your children about God’s design for the home.
Maybe you simply need to say, “Lord, strengthen my home from here.”
Let’s stand together and let’s sing one verse of invitation, but while we do … would you do business with God?
Page 329 - There’s Room at the Cross for you
If you need Christ today, there is room - accept Him today.
If you are saved, but you need to bring your marriage back to Jesus…there’s room at the cross for you!
Let’s sing
