Building Upon "The Rock"

October 22
One of my favorite sections of scripture is the story Jesus tells his disciples about the difference between the man who builds his house on the rock and the man who builds his house on the sand (Matt. 7:24-27).
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to the wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

Just before telling that story, Jesus spoke of those who claimed to be speaking for him but were not. He indicated they would even be those who did miracles in His name, prophesied, and cast out demons; yet He did not know them. Jesus told them to depart from Him; they were in actuality those who practiced lawlessness.

The divorce rate in America and the number who live together out of wedlock is a testimony to the fact that most here in this country build their house on the sand. I had a jail ministry for a couple of years, and the one thing those in jail had over the great multitudes who are not in jail is they quickly recognized and readily admitted they had been trying to build their houses on the sand. They got the analogy immediately. The fact they were in jail testified to the fact that they had not built their houses on the rock. Even those who thought they might be or claimed to be sure they were Christians realized even they had not taken seriously the need to build their house on "The Rock." Of course, the imagery here is Jesus as “The Rock,” the foundation of the church and all those claiming to be part of His church.

When one accepts the wisdom of the world and lives out of wedlock, in obvious disobedience to the revealed will of God (IThes 4:3-8), he is building his house on the sand. And the statistics lend credence to the truth (which of course needs no statistics). Well over 50% of all marriages that take place after a couple lives together before marrying end in divorce. Why would any sane individual buck those kinds of odds. Before I got saved and realized God was the author of marriage, I swallowed the worlds’ traditional reasoning at the time for refusing to get married. It was the most absurd of postulates. The hippie generation called it “free love.” Of course, it wasn’t free; and in most cases it wasn’t love. It was really nothing more or less than boundless, unbridled, undisciplined lust.

When I count the number of people I personally know whose lives were all but destroyed because of the “free love” movement, I am overwhelmed with sadness. I am grieved to the core of my being today when I count the number of young people who are the offspring of the irresponsible lust mongers of my youth. The whores and cult prostitutes of Baal were nothing when compared to the whores and male cult prostitutes of young people in America today. One young man for whom my soul longs to see saved loves hunting so much he calls the outdoors his church. I read of the sadness and sense the loneliness in the hearts of many of the young people I taught in the public school system as they write on Face Book about their daily trials and tribulations, problems to which they have no solutions.

More than thirty-eight years ago I began building my house on “The Rock.” The rains have come, the storms have battered against the door, the trials and tribulation have been too many to count. Time and again it appeared the walls would crumble; but they held up and continue to do so. I can truly and humbly say, "Were it not for the grace of God, there go I." The house built on the rock will withstand the storms and floodgates of hell because “The Rock” never leaves or forsakes His own. The fiery chariots of God surround those under assault from Satan and his band of miscreants; and God's angels will never lose that battle. He is the "Rock of Ages." He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is the one God and there is no other. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; and His kingdom is eternal and unconquerable. And that’s our word from God for today.