The Wise and Foolish Builders

1. Read: Matthew 7:24-29

2. About the Text:

1) You could call this last part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount the invitation.

2) He is calling those listening to action.

3) Many today want a “faith only” gospel where no one is required to do anything.

4) Jesus never taught that message, but just the opposite.

5) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

6) What can we learn from his parable of the wise and foolish builders?

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. The Wise Man Built His House

1) The house here represents what one does with one’s life.

2) We do not have long to lead our lives.

a. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:13-14).

b. “The days of our lives are seventy years; ??And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, ??Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; ??For it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

c. “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, ??And the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

3) What will one do with his or her life?

a. “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, ??Before the difficult days come, ??And the years draw near when you say, ??“I have no pleasure in them”:” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

b. “How can a young man cleanse his way? ??By taking heed according to Your word” (Psalm 119:9).

c. “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

2. The wise man built on a rock.

1) This is a good foundation.

a. This is a massive bedrock.

b. Houses in the first century were made of cut stone and wedged together.

c. They were sealed with mud and straw.

d. A veneer of plaster covered over everything.

e. The roof was straw covered in clay.

2) He wants what he builds to last.

a. He is not self-destructive!

b. He takes time to do things the right way.

3) Jesus is the foundation on which we must build.

a. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

b. “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

c. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

4) If we want to last, we’ve got to build on a good foundation.

a. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

b. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[fn] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:7-8).

3. This is the man who hears and practices Jesus’ message.

1) James 2:18-24

2) “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

3) “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).

1. The Foolish Man Also Built His House

1) Everyone is building something.

2) Even if one says, “I’m not going to do anything,” he is still building a life of some kind!

3) Here is one who does not think about his life.

a. He is “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).

b. He is “like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6).

c. He is like a sheep without a shepherd (Numbers 27:17, Matthew 9:36).

4) Without God, man is destined to failure.

a. “The fool has said in his heart, ??“There is no God.” ??They are corrupt, ??They have done abominable works, ??There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).

b. “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; ??It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

c. “The heart is deceitful above all things, ??And desperately wicked; ??Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

2. He has a bad foundation, sand.

1) Sand is a horrible foundation because it moves so much.

a. If the foundation moves, the house cracks.

b. Water would get in and erode the binding materials.

c. The house would eventually collapse under the weight of the roof.

d. Compare Ezekiel 13:10-19.

2) Any foundation other than Jesus will destroy a person’s life.

a. One’s heart – “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26).

b. Wealth – “They that trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psalm 49:6-7).

c. Men – “Surely men of low degree are a vapor, ??Men of high degree are a lie; ??If they are weighed on the scales, ??They are altogether lighter than vapor. ??Do not trust in oppression, ??Nor vainly hope in robbery; ??If riches increase, ??Do not set your heart on them” (Psalm 62:9-10).

d. Government – “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3).

3. This is the man who hears, but does not practice the things Jesus says.

1) Matthew 15:1-9

2) “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:1-3).

3) James 1:22-27

1. “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29).

2. Jesus has the authority to command our lives.

1) God has given him authority over “all flesh” (John 17:2).

2) All authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

3) “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

3. Jesus will judge us.

1) “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).

2) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

3) “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

4. Jesus speaks with authority because he has the authority.

1. The Wise and Foolish builders teaches…

1) The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock

2) The Foolish Man Built His House Upon the Sand

3) The Authority of Jesus

2. Invitation