Sweeping Storms, Solid Stone, & Sinking Sand–Part 1 of 3

Matthew 7:24-27  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.

As we see in our text, storms come into the lives of everyone. What matters most in the midst of the storm is not what kind of house you have built, but what kind of foundation have you laid. Do you have the kind of foundation that will stand the storms of life? By listening to the lesson Jesus gives on the two foundations, we will determine how solid ours is.

SEVERE STORMS

The first thing we notice is that everyone goes through the SAME storms. Many young Christians have this idea that once they come to Jesus, all of their troubles will go away. For some, that may be because the only reason they prayed their “sinner’s prayer” was not because they were under conviction about their sin, but wanted a way out of their storm.

But the storms of life happen to everyone. Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. When you think back to the history of the children of Israel, even they went through the first three plagues in Egypt. Everyone goes through storms.

This faulty logic is why so many Christians give up and give in when going through a storm that does not end up the way they think it should. Your faith does not excuse you from the storms of life; it empowers you to make it through them.

We also notice that everyone goes through SEVERE storms. From all indications, these two foundations did not go through two different storms – but the same storm. If we are not careful, we will assume that the house built on sinking sand was just some small, beat-up shack that was barely standing to begin with.

So, both houses were built some-what the same, and both went through the storm. And this was obviously a severe storm because it completely knocked down and destroyed the second house. There are some Christians who will agree that we all have to go through storms, but if they are honest, they would admit that they think their faith will excuse them from the real bad storms – or even make them easier to go through.

But notice what happened to the first house built on a firm foundation – .
Matthew 7:25  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 Just because the first house made it through the storm did not automatically make it an easier storm to go through. In fact, Christians often go through some of the toughest storms of life. Think about men like Job, Moses, Stephen, and Paul. They were great men of faith who went though great storms. So, the first truth we recognize is that everyone goes through the same storms, and sometimes those storms can be severe.