#52 Lu. 6:47-49 THE SECRET OF BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL LIFE Introduction: In this text Jesus speaks of building a house. The building of the house is figurative. What Jesus is talking about is the building of a life. What this text really shows is the secret of building a successful life. The secret is to build one's life on the right foundation. Jesus shows a contrast between one who builds on the right foundation and one who does not. I. The one who builds on the solid rock V. 47, "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them..." We note first that He talks about one who has heard His sayings. That is, he has heard the things He had just preached in this Sermon On the Mount. Matthew makes this clear. Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, "...these sayings of mine..." Jesus is talking specifically to that congregation and talking specifically about the things He had said to them in this particular Sermon On The Mount. Secondly, we note that He is talking about one who had not only heard Him preach this sermon, but one who would do the things that He had said. That is, he would believe the words of Jesus and would live in keeping with what Jesus had taught. Or, to put it another way, Jesus is talking about one who would first be saved and then after salvation would live according to the teachings of Jesus. He would not only trust Jesus Christ for salvation, but he would make Jesus the Lord of his life. V. 47-48, "...I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock..." Jesus here is comparing the building of a life to the building of a house. In the construction of a house it is necessary to build on a good solid foundation. In our part of the world, it is necessary first to build the foundation itself. You can either build a pear and beam foundation or else you can build a concrete beam foundation on which you will pour a concrete slab. If you are going to pour a concrete slab you will first have to pour a concrete beam all around the edge of the house and reenforce that concrete with steel. You will then need to have some crossbeams which run crossways of the building so as to support the weight of the center part of the structure. Once you have laid a good foundation then you can build a good building and expect that it will last for many years. But in the part of the world that Jesus lived in, one did not have to build a foundation. There was already a much better foundation available to him than he could ever build. He could dig down through the soil and he would find a huge strata of rock that would run either direction for miles and miles. He could then build the structure of the house right on the solid rock strata that God, the Master-builder, had made. This was the very best foundation possible on which to build a house. The advantage of building on this solid rock foundation is seen in the latter part of verse 48. (V. 48), "...and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock." When one builds a house he must try to built it to withstand the storms that are subject to coming upon it. In the case that Jesus uses as an example the storm came and brought a great flood of water against that house. Being built on a good solid foundation paid off. The house stood firm and when the storm was over and the flood waters had receded, the house was still standing. Now there is one thing that we ought to learn right here. Being saved does not prevent one from encountering the storms of life. Being saved takes care of the greatest need of one's life. It takes care of his eternal destiny. It makes sure that he stays out of hell and that he goes to heaven when he dies. But it does not prevent him from having physical illness. It does not prevent him from having financial problems. It does not keep him from having emotional turmoil and distress in this life. The storms of life do not all skip over the homes of the saved. Their homes get struck by the same kind of storms that hit the homes of the unsaved. Sickness comes. Trouble comes. Death comes. Tears and sorrow come. But thanks be to God when the storm is over all is well. Even when sickness and death invades the home of the saved, all is well. Going to heaven is no tragedy under any circumstance. II. One who does not build on the solid rock V. 49, "But he that heareth, and doeth not..." Jesus here is talking a man who heard His sermon, but did not heed the message of His sermon. First of all, this man did not place his faith in Jesus for the salvation of His soul. Since He did not trust in Jesus as his Savior, neither did he then do the other things that Jesus talked about in this sermon. He did not make Jesus the Lord of His life to carry out the commands of the Lord. (V. 49), "...is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth..." Jesus compared the man who heard His sermon and did not heed it to a man who built his house on the ordinary surface soil of the earth. dig down to find the rock strata. He did not build the structure of his house on the solid rock foundation. Rather, he built right out on the ordinary ground. Now he may have selected a very beautiful spot on which to build. He may have constructed a very beautiful building. He may have built a more attractive building than the man who built on the rock. He may have used some fine timber in its structure. But it made no difference. He did not build on the solid rock foundation and no matter what he built, it would not be able to withstand in the time of storm. (V. 49), "...against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." Sandy loamy soil is easily washed away by water. A stream of water can wash the dirt right out from under the walls of a building and there is nothing left for it to do but fall. No matter how strong the walls may be if the dirt foundation washes right out from underneath it, then those walls will fall. Now that is what it is like for the individual who does not trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. When the storms of life come, the walls of his life come tumbling down. He may have built strong physical walls by building a strong healthy body, but when the storms of sickness or accident come, it can leave a once strong man weak and decrepit. It may be that he has built strong financial walls, but when the storms of life come, they can leave him without a dime. It may be that he has built walls of strong friendships, but when the storms of life come, they can leave him without a friend. It may be that he has built strong educational walls so that he has all manner of degrees, but when the storms of life come they can show him up for just how really ignorant he has been. It may be that he has built strong religious walls, but if he has never trusted in Jesus Christ as his Savior, then when the storms of death and judgment come they will leave him suffering in the everlasting fires of hell. The best foundation on which to build your life is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation which can endure the storms of life and the storms of judgment in the hereafter. No man has ever yet turned to Jesus Christ and placed his faith and trust in Jesus and regretted doing so. III. The lessons for our own lives today The only foundation that will provide the salvation of your soul is Jesus Christ. Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved..." Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Jesus in John 5:24 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." In Acts 4:12 we read, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." John 3:18 says, "He that believeth on his is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." So it is either repent and trust Jesus or perish. It is either believe in Jesus or burn in hell. It is either trust in Him or spend eternity in hell. There is but one way of salvation and if you reject that one way then that leaves you without salvation altogether. If you wind up in the fires of hell, there won't be anybody to blame but yourself. You will not be able to blame God, because God sent Jesus to the cross to die for you that you might be saved. You won't be able to blame Jesus, because He died on the cross for you and stands ready to save you if you ever call upon Him and ask Him to do so. You won't be able to blame the Bible, because the Bible has told you the truth. You won't be able to blame this church. This church has done what she could to carry the gospel message to you. You will not be able to blame me, because I have told you the truth. You won't be able to blame mother or daddy or grand mamma or granddaddy. You won't be able to blame anybody but yourself. You failed to place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. Repenting of your sin and trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior is the best choice that you can ever make in your whole life. Then after you are saved, the best course of action for your life is for you to live your life in keeping with the things that Jesus has told you to do. Let me see if I can get one thing through to you. But I am here to tell you that Jesus does not tell you anything to do in order to cheat you out of fun and pleasure and joy. Rather Jesus tells you how to live your life in order to have a far better life than you could ever have in the ways of rebellion and sin. Jesus is not out to cheat you out of pleasure and joy; Jesus is trying to guarantee that you will have a great deal more pleasure and joy in this life. He not only wants you to have pleasure and joy here in this life, He wants you to have it in the next life also. Conclusion: It is that next life that I want to focus on for a few minutes. What in the world are you going to do when you step out of this world and you lift up your eyes to find out that you are in the fires of hell? You can weep and wail but there will never be any escape. What in the world are you going to do when you look up to Father Abraham, like the rich man did in Luke chapter sixteen? You will see others whom you have known there in the Paradise of God. You can rant and rave. You can curse and complain. You can beg and plead. But it will do not good once you are there. The only chance you have is to turn to Jesus now and call upon Jesus and trust in Him to save your soul. Won't you turn to Jesus right now and ask Him to save your soul? Won't you lift your heart right where you are and ask Jesus to save your soul? You ought to thank God that you still have this chance to be saved and you ought to make doubly sure that you take advantage of it and not waste it. Come now trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior. There are, no doubt, Christians here who are in need of a church home. We who make up the membership of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church open up our arms to you and our hearts to you and invite you to unite with us. We not only welcome you, but frankly, we can use all the help we can get in serving the Lord. Will you come and help us? If so, then step out and come as we sing the invitation hymn.