How Firm is your Foundation?

Matt. 7:24-27

Matthew 7:24–26 NKJV

“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:

Prayer: Word of God speak let it pour down like rain, watching our eyes to see your majesty, be still and know that you’re in this place.

Introduction:

Introduction:

Tuesday night I spoke of all the construction, destruction and obstruction that is going on around us. There seems to be a lot of tearning down and building up in the physical sense in this area.

My uncle is a carpenter. When I was younger I would watch him at work because my parents were often renovating our home and he was the one who did the work. I observed him and those who helped him build.

The art of building is facinating isn’t it. You make something out of wood and nails that you can live in, build a life in, entertain etc. I enjoyed watching the men working as they poured the concrete foundation.

It was a big day for us because we were finally getting a basement in our house and that meant for me I finally got my own room. As they poured the concrete I noticed how they dug down into the earth until they found rock and how careful they poured /laid foundation on that rock.

It reminds us of the little parable by Jesus where He speaks clearly about the importance of building our lives on the right foundation. All of us have seen lives of men and women fall when they were not built on the right foundation. We have also seen the lives of strong men and women who wre able to withstand all pressures that were brought against them.

The apostle Paul, apparently knew a parable of Jesus and having observed the importance of the foundation for building, used the analogy in our text today.

Paul said that there is “no other foundation” on which one can build a meaningful life except the foundation of Jesus Christ. Today I want us to consider this exclusive claim.

Jesus Christ is the only foundation adequate for everyday living

On Christ a solid Rock I stand

How Firm a Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word What more can He say than to you He hath said To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled

These are just a couple of hymns that we sing that state the fact that Jesus Christ is the immovable rock on which we can build our lives.

All else is like the shifting sand that may appear firm today, but tomorrow it moves, leaving our lives in ruins. The world in which we live changes so rapidly that we are always in danger of falling or being swept away. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, invites us to build our lives on Him!

Is there anyother foundation that can out due Him? Not at all

1 Corinthians 3:10–11 NIV

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Cor

When we speak of building our lives on Jesus we are not talking about holding opinions concerning Jesus. We are not even talking about reliable doctrinal conclusions about Christ, as important as they are. Rather, we are talking about the personal commitment of our lives to Jesus Christ and the building of our lives on that solid foundation.

In the time of the great depression there was a man who lost all of his financial holdings. Because of this he was a broken man. He walked the streets with his head down and shoulders slumped. He became disagreeable with his neighbours and was unkind to the children who lived near him. Apparently, the foundation under his life was financial success. When the depression came, his foundation was swept away.

In the same town there were other people who also lost their possessions but found a way to go on in life cheerfully. The difference seemed to be foundation on which life had been built.

Today, perhaps as never before, people need to consider what foundation they will build their lives on. Jesus taught Paul that there is no other foundation that will meet all the pressures of life except the firm foundation of faith in God. This is the starting point in life.

Jesus Christ is the foundation of our beliefs

Faith is our basic commitment to God, our lives are entrusted to Him. Beliefs are the doctrinal convictions that we hold with our minds. All people hold to beliefs that support the kind of lives they live. Some of those beliefs are shallow and wrong. Some are correct and others are incorrect.

Jesus Christ is the only foundation of beliefs that are adequate to support one in life. If you are looking for a firm foundation it is in Him alone.

The basic religious belief of all is belief in God. Christians believe the NT when it says that our only way of knowing God is through his relevation of Himself in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:19 NKJV

that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Jesus Christ is the word made flesh

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Hebrews 1:1–3 NIV

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

In Jesus Christ, God was pleased to dwell fully

Colossians 1:19 NLT

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

Jesus Christ is the foundation of our faith in God.

This is where we start. We start with our faith as our foundation in Christ.

This Foundation has been laid, we do not lay it, we build on it.

According to 1 Corinthians, there is no other foundation; Jesus Christ is the foundation that has already been laid by God the Father. In other words, God just “is”.

He is as certain as the law of gravity. He is as much reality as the changing seasons or the earth in which we walk. We do not choose a foundation; rather, we choose only whether we will build on the foundation or whether we will build without a foundation.

Over and over the New Testament stresses the exclusiveness of the Christian faith in that only God disclosed himself fully in the person of Jesus Christ, His only Son. We need not waste our time debating whether one can find some good in all religions. Rather, we must focus on discovering who God is to believe that there are no rivals to Jesus Christ. He is only the complete revelation of God, the only foundation on which we can build our lives.

We need to focus on discovering who God is to believe that there are no rivals to Jesus Christ.

You have no rival, You have no equal Now and forever, Our God reigns Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory Yours is the Name, above all names

You have no rival, You have no equal Now and forever, Our God reigns Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory Yours is the Name, above all names

Philippians 2:5–11 NIV

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We have beautiful words here in these scriptures that tell us that Jesus, the Son of God, previously existed on an equality with the Father but freely gave up all of that to come into the world, taking the humble form of a servant and giving His life that we may be brought to God.

You have no

Galatians 4:4–6 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

God who had disclosed Himself in the history of the OT, came in the fullness in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son, so that we might receive reconciliation with God and adoption into God’s family.

This exclusiveness of the Christian faith is not arrogant. Rather, we are under the orders of God to tell all creatures in the world of this salvation because it is the expression of the supreme love of the almighty God.

The other Foundations are not Foundations at all

What appears to be other foundations are but mirages on the desert. For a long time the church as an institution assumed full authority over the lives of men and women. It made the claim that to be right with the church was to be right with God.

It claimed to be the foundation on which people could build their lives. This claim proved to be false, for the church alone is inadequate. Jesus Christ is the foundation. The church is merely a witness to that foundation and is comprised of the family of God, people who have built on that foundation. The church forever exists to hear and proclaim the truth that Jesus Christ is the only foundation for life.

John 14:6 NIV

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Some people who have had a deep spiritual experience in their religious pilgrimage make this mystical experience to be the foundation of their lives. Without passing judgement on the validity of such experiences, our text would point out “but the foundation of life is faith in Jesus Christ”.

Conclusion:

We always face the temptation of building our lives on a false foundation. Such mirages may be beautiful and inviting, but they are like sand on the beach. They shift with the tides, and the house that is built on them, like the house in Jesus’ parable, will fall when the waves and the winds beat in on it.

1 Peter 2:4–8 NLT

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

1 Pet. 2:

Jesus Christ is the foundation for life. You can trust your life to Him. There is no other foundation. This morning have you built your life on Jesus Christ? Is your foundation on the Solid Rock? If not you come and give your life to Him there is no other foundation other than Him!

The Solid Rock