I want to read you a familiar passage
of scripture tonight, friends, but don't let your
familiarity with it keep you from paying attention
to it.
In fact, I believe this message is one
of the most important ones I've ever preached,
and it could very well be the most
important one you'll ever hear.
We'll be in Luke's Gospel in chapter 6.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We will be reading verses 46 through 49.
Before we begin, let me pray.
Oh, great God, I come before you by
the blood of your dear son, Jesus.
Jesus, my advocate, who sits at your right
hand.
Jesus, my savior, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
I ask you to come by your Holy
Spirit here tonight and disturb folks, disturb the
secure, alarm the lost, make your word a
hammer.
They'll bust up all false foundations, make your
word a fire.
They'll burn into the conscience and flush out
all false refuges.
Make your word a scalpel to wound and
cut deep where divine operation is needed.
If there's someone here, oh, great God, standing
on the wrong foundation, I pray you will
awaken them to their danger.
All I can do as your preacher is
to preach up a blood-stained savior from
sin and point centers to him so you
can save them.
Open hearts tonight, I pray, and pour your
grace in there.
I pray, great God, you grant someone saving
faith through this message for your glory.
I pray these things in the strong name
of Jesus, amen.
I wanna set the stage for this Bible
reading tonight, friends.
Jesus was preaching to a big crowd and
he gave this parable.
Immediately after teaching on the Beatitudes, it came
right on its heels so he had their
full attention.
They were eagerly hanging on every word that
dropped from his lips.
He had their undivided attention.
And that's what I want, friend, your undivided
attention.
So quit texting and get the wax out
of your ears and sit up straight and
pay attention to God's holy word.
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say?
Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings
and doeth them, I will show you to
whom he is like.
He is like a man which built a
house and dig deep.
I like that, dig deep, that's important.
And dig deep and laid the foundation on
a rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat
vehemently upon that house and could not shake
it, for it was founded upon a rock.
But he that heareth and doeth not is
like a man that, without a foundation, built
a house upon the earth, against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell,
and the ruin of that house was great.
I will stop there, friends.
I want us to picture the effect of
Christ's story on us hearers that day.
They hung on every word, and his words
were attended with such power and majesty.
They could almost see the swirling water cascade
down the hill to that house, rushing by
with such a vehement force that the violence
of the stream swept all before it away.
When Jesus finished his story, they each stood
there with their mouths open, in wonder, with
a sense of doom resounding in their ears,
where they could almost hear the creak and
the crack of that timber break under the
force of that storm.
And as that crowd dispersed and slowly made
its way home, that terrible imagery and the
horrific sound of that crash rang in their
ears.
It was as if the very atmosphere was
thick with eternity.
When the flood subsided, they looked for that
house, but it was gone.
It was absolutely unforgettable to them.
Listen to me, friends.
There are two kinds of people in the
world.
I don't mean rich and poor, or young
and old.
But I mean those who are either saved
or lost.
You are either saved and on your way
to heaven when you die, or you are
lost and hell bound.
For a devil's hell is the sinner's long
home.
Man is either on the rock or on
the sand.
Which is it with you, friend?
I'm not gonna leave you with indecision tonight,
but rather I want you to take a
stand one way or the other.
Don't be in between.
I want you to take out your pens
right now and write in the margin of
your Bible one word in capital letters.
If you don't have your Bible handy, write
it on the notes of your phone.
Write the word that best represents you tonight,
that best represents you right now.
I want you to write the word rock
or the word sand.
For you are either on the rock or
on the sand.
You're either saved or lost.
Write it down now, friend, rock or sand.
Did you do it?
Those of you who fall into the category
of the saved, you know what it's like
to build upon that solid rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
There's credible evidence in your life of the
indwelling Christ.
What you've built will not only weather the
storm, but stand the test of time, you're
saved, you're on that rock.
Men are either on the rock or on
the sand.
And that's the title of my message tonight,
friends, on the rock or on the sand.
And there are some here who find Christianity
little more than a crutch that some misguided
zealots lean on.
You're doing just fine without God.
You're like the man I once played golf
with, but he had a very foul mouth.
Every other word he spoke, he either cussed
God or cursed.
Finally, I turned to him on a tee
box and I said, do you mind if
I ask you a question, friend?
He said, shoot.
I asked him, tell me, how was your
relationship with God?
Well, he smiled a big grin and said,
fine.
I have a great relationship with God.
I leave him alone and he leaves me
alone.
That may apply to some of you here
tonight.
You listen to me because of a friend
or you listen out of curiosity.
And that look on your face, whether it's
a smirk or sneer, tells me you know
you don't need religion to make you happy.
You're getting along fine in life without it
and without God.
You're on the sand and for now, you're
fine with it.
Yes, sir, you're digging your feet in the
sand and what kind of house you build
on that sand, you build on your own.
But I submit to you, friends, there are
some here who believe they are building on
the rock because they at one time in
their life made a public profession of faith,
but there's little evidence of a house on
it.
Very little evidence of one who has undergone
regeneration.
You may have the bare bone structure of
a public profession of faith with a little
drywall here and some bricks there, but no
sturdy house stands as evidence of a regenerated
heart.
You've mistaken church membership for salvation.
You are void of the living Christ, void
of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit
in your life.
You think you're on the rock when reality,
you stand on shifting sand.
And if you don't act and do something
about it, a day will come.
Listen to me, a day will come sooner
than you realize when you will be found
out a day future in eternity at the
judgment where every man's works will be judged.
Or a common day in this love time
when your world as you know it is
snapped apart by tragedy or circumstance.
Everything you say you've built will come crashing
down on that day and a pile of
unbelief and rubble.
It's time for honest talk, friends, and straight
shooting.
One day, when death finally catches up to
you, your soul will be removed to another
world, to a world of spirits in a
place of either endless joy or endless torment.
Are you on the rock?
Are you on the sand?
Don't you wanna know the reality of how
you stand?
If you're not truly born again, friend, wouldn't
you wanna find that out now while there's
still time to do something about it?
Would you not want the honest truth about
yourself now, no matter how painful it is
or embarrassing it is?
But you don't wanna find out too late
when you enter a Christless eternity of outer
darkness, when Jesus says, why, call me Lord
and do not the things which I say.
That means it is not enough to hear
the sayings of Christ.
We must do them.
It is not enough to profess him.
We must obey him.
I know this from personal experience, friends.
I was a lost church member for years.
I know of which I speak.
I know what it's like to teach a
big Sunday school class and prepare lessons every
week as a lost religious person.
The day I discovered that the ground I'd
been building upon was nothing more than sand,
I almost drove myself mad.
I was home alone as my family was
out of town visiting relatives.
I was up in my study reading a
sermon by Solomon Stoddard, the grandfather of Jonathan
Edwards.
The sermon was entitled, The Way to Know
Sincerity and Hypocrisy, cleared up.
The sermon was 21 pages long.
It was about true and false conversion.
And sure enough, that old boy, that old
Puritan Stoddard, sure cleared things up for me
for halfway through that sermon, God opened my
eyes and I saw where I was going.
I was going to hell.
Even though I was a good church member
and a Sunday school teacher, I found out
that day I was lost, lost, lost.
My foundation was only shifting sand.
I threw myself down on the floor of
my study and for several hours I wrestled
with God in prayer.
First, I denied that I was lost.
I argued with God and reminded him of
all the good works I had done.
I dragged out my long track record of
service and showed it to him.
I said, look here, Lord.
Look there, Lord.
These many years I've served you.
Then I fell back upon my good reputation
as a Christian.
I reminded God how highly respected I was
among my church friends.
I told God all about my goodness and
my good works and my good reputation.
And I saw it that day.
I saw that day that good people don't
go to heaven.
Only forgiven people get to go there.
The more I prayed and the more I
argued with God and the more I defended
myself, the more desperate I became.
I pounded the floor with my fists and
shouted, I can't be lost.
I can't be lost.
Then God in his mercy and by his
grace showed me that not only was I
going to hell in my present condition, but
that I deserved to go there.
My cries went from I can't be lost
to the cries of I am lost.
Then a verse came to my mind, the
words of Jesus spoken to me.
For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost.
Before God could save me, I had admit
I was a lost sinner and in need
of Christ's cleansing blood.
And by God's grace, I was saved that
day.
God really saved me.
Well, I was too embarrassed to tell my
wife when she got back to town what
had happened to me because I was sorry
to admit to her she had married a
Christian man after all.
So I waited about three weeks before I
got up the courage to tell her we
were standing in the kitchen one morning and
I turned to her and said, I have
something very important to say to you and
I need you to hear me.
She looked at me with a concern.
I said, while you were away, something happened.
I got saved.
I really got saved.
She looked at me intently and replied, I
know.
Since I've been back, I've noticed a change
in you.
Old friend, have you had this transformation?
Do you know the testimony of the indwelling
Christ when Jesus was here in his earthly
ministry as he passed through towns and villages?
Those who encountered him experienced change.
Has your heart been changed by a living
faith in a risen Lord?
I hope so.
If not, don't go to sleep tonight until
you have this matter settled between you and
God.
Don't wait another day.
It's too risky.
If you are a truly saved individual, you
were built on rock, the rock of ages,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and your life will
be evidence of a house standing in glory
to him.
When my wife and I were building our
dream house, I first bought some land.
The land was rolling.
It had some steep drop-offs, so when
it came time to lay the foundation of
the house, a building inspector made the builder
use 18-inch cinder blocks instead of the
12-inch cold ones because the lay of
the land, more sturdiness had to go into
the foundation.
So we used bigger 18-inch blocks with
rebar down through them to give it a
firm foundation.
Care and preparation went into building that home,
which my family lived in for many years.
We had some pretty strong thunderstorms come through
that neighborhood, even straight line winds and ending
rain, which brought down trees and destroyed roofs,
but that house stood firm.
It was well built on a firm foundation,
but I would have regretted it if I
failed to be in code with building regulations
and had only used 12-inch blocks without
the rebar on that severely sloping lot.
That house could have been washed out in
a bad flood or storm because of a
faulty structure.
Some of you here, within the sound of
my voice, are on a faulty structure.
You think you're standing on the rock, but
the reality is it's merely the sand of
an empty religious profession.
Hear me now.
It's not the appearance of a house that
counts, friend, in the long run, but the
durability of it.
Here is the point where I want to
give you a call to action.
If God has been dealing with you, friend,
through this message, don't delay.
Don't let the devil distract you now or
give you any excuses to come to Christ
now and own him as your Savior and
Lord and know him and know what it's
like to build upon that solid rock.
Do all you can, friend.
I'm getting serious with you now.
Need you to get serious with God.
Do all you can, friend, to get to
God and become a seeker of him.
Become a beggar for mercy.
Listen to the word of God, which declares,
seek ye the Lord while he may be
found.
Call ye upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord.
And he will have mercy upon him and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Listen, friend, life is short.
Eternity is forever.
Get serious with God and he will get
serious with you.
This could be the start of something tonight
that will alter your entire eternal destination.
Jesus is no killjoy.
He wants the very best for you, which
is eternal life in him.
Come to him and believe on him and
own him as your Savior and Lord.
Come place it all in his nail-pierced
hands.
Come surrender to God as I sing.
My hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but
wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness fails his lovely face, I rest
on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor
holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
And when shall come with trumpet sound, oh,
may I then in him be found, dressed
in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before
the throne.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.