First Baptist Church Litchfield
chapel 2/25

      • Deuteronomy 6:3ESV

  • Lord I Lift Your Name On High
  • Carry It On Philippians 1:8

      • Matthew 7:24–27ESV

  • Your Love
  • Small as a Mustard Seed (Matthew 17:20)

  • On What Are You Building Your Life ?

    Imagine spending months building your dream house. You carefully select every paint color for the walls. You thoughtfully design each room so that the spaces feel warm and inviting for those you love. You pour your time and energy into making sure every detail reflects your hopes for the future. Then you invite friends and family to come and admire what you have created. From the outside everything looks beautiful and strong and complete. Yet if the foundation beneath it all is weak the first serious storm that arrives will cause the entire structure to collapse.
    That picture captures what Jesus is teaching at the close of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven. He has just finished speaking about the narrow gate that leads to life the difference between true disciples and false ones and the good trees that bear good fruit. Now he brings every truth to a single point of personal decision. Students, Jesus is not asking whether you show up for chapel or youth group. He is asking what your entire life is built upon.
    The central truth of this passage is clear.

    Faithful disciples hear the words of Jesus and build their lives on him through obedient faith.

    Let us walk through the text with open hearts so that the Holy Spirit can help us apply it today.

    I. The Wise Builder Hears and Obeys (Matthew 7:24)

    The one who builds wisely hears the words of Jesus and obeys them. Matthew 7:24 records the Savior saying everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The word then ties this picture to everything Jesus has already taught. In light of the call to enter the narrow gate and to produce real fruit and to do the will of the Father Jesus now describes the only way to build a life that lasts.
    In the world of Jesus day, a house was far more than shelter. It stood for your family, your name, your security, and your future. Building wisely meant choosing a foundation that could bear every weight. There are two ways to hear the words of Jesus. One person hears and then obeys with a heart that is ready to follow. The other hears yet stops short of action. The wise builder listens with a heart prepared for joyful obedience. Jesus is never impressed by notebooks filled with notes or by religious words spoken without life change. He looks for faith that obeys with joy.
    Our Lord makes this plain in John 14:15, when he says if you love me you will keep my commandments. Love for Christ always expresses itself in glad obedience to his word. The rock in this passage points ultimately to Christ himself and to his teaching. Recall how Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah the Son of the living God in Matthew 16:16-18; upon this rock he would build his church. The foundation is the truth of who Jesus is as Savior and Lord. To build your life on the rock means to rest your identity your daily choices and your eternal hopes on Jesus alone.
    As the great Reformer John Calvin explains in his commentary “Christ shows by a beautiful comparison where the main difference lies. He represents a building without a foundation and one that is well founded. A vain and empty profession of the gospel is like a beautiful structure that lacks any solid base and is exposed to downfall at any moment.”
    Calvin adds that
    “true faith has its roots deep in the heart and rests on an earnest and steady affection as its foundation so that it may not give way to temptations.”
    Accordingly Paul urges us in Colossians 2:7, to be well and thoroughly founded on Christ and to have deep roots.

    II. The Certain Storm of Judgment (Matthew 7:25, 27)

    This foundation matters because a storm is coming. Matthew chapter seven verses twenty five and twenty seven tell us the rain fell the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house. Both houses face the same storm yet only one remains standing. The storm pictures the judgment that every person will face.
    Scripture often uses water to portray divine judgment. Think of the flood in Noah's day or the waters of the Red Sea that covered the armies of Egypt. Hebrews 9:27, declares it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment. Every one of us will stand before Christ.
    The difference between the two houses is never in how they look on the outside. It is always in the foundation. The one who does not obey also hears the words of Jesus. Yet without putting them into practice the house cannot endure.
    Students, this truth touches your daily lives right now. You can sit through every service and still be building on things that will not last when the storm arrives. Popularity can feel steady. Success in sports or studies can seem reliable. Approval from friends or the scrolling numbers on a screen can appear solid. Yet none of those can survive the day of judgment.
    Jesus warns in Revelation 20:1-8, that the faithless face eternal separation from God. In Matthew 13:50, he describes a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The collapse of the house without a foundation is not a small thing. Jesus says great was the fall of it.
    Picture a sandcastle at the beach. It has towers and walls and decorations. It looks impressive for a time. Yet the tide never fails to come in the evening. When the waves roll in the whole thing vanishes. The ocean does not pause to admire how beautiful it once appeared. Judgment likewise is as sure as the waves of the rising evening tide.

    III. The Present Storms of Life (Matthew 7:25)

    The storm Jesus describes is not only future. It arrives in the present trials of life as well. Matthew chapter seven verse twenty five says the rain fell the floods came and the winds blew. Jesus does not say if these things happen. He says when they happen. There is a final judgment yet there are also daily tests that reveal the strength of our foundation. This is the already and not yet reality of life with Christ. Students, suffering does not prove your faith has failed. It often proves the very test that shows what your life is built upon.
    When a close friendship suddenly ends, when your parents walk through hardship, when temptation feels heavier than you expected, when classmates mock your commitment to Christ, or when worry and anxiety rise like a flood in your heart, those are the storms Jesus is talking about. Storms are not theoretical. They are personal. They touch your friendships, your family, your reputation, and your inner life.
    If your confidence rests on fleeting things, even good things, your house will not hold. If your security is built only on popularity, success, emotional stability, or comfort, it will eventually crumble. And even if your faith rests merely on your parents’ convictions or on familiar church routines, it will begin to shake when pressure comes. Borrowed faith cannot withstand real storms.
    But when your life is built on Christ and His Word, when you not only hear His teaching but trust Him and obey Him, your life stands. The rain may fall. The winds may beat. The floodwaters may rise. Yet the house remains because the foundation was strong. Christ Himself is that foundation. And those who rest their lives on Him will not be put to shame.
    As William Hendriksen explains, true believers do more than hear Jesus’ words. They listen carefully, meditate until they understand, and then put those words into constant practice. That steady obedience shows their house is built on the rock. It is not a one-time decision, but a life shaped by Christ’s Word. Every ambition we cherish every thought we conceive every word we speak and every deed we perform is like a building block added each day.
    Recall the story of the three little pigs. Two build quickly with straw and sticks because it is fast and simple. The third takes time and effort to build with bricks. When the wolf arrives only the house of bricks remains. Obedience to Christ may feel slower than following the crowd. Choosing holiness requires more than giving in to what is easy. Yet only the foundation laid on Christ survives every trial.

    IV. Where We Fail and Where Jesus Succeeds

    We must acknowledge our fallen condition honestly. We are all by nature more ready to hear the words of Jesus than to surrender every part of life to him. We may desire Jesus as Savior yet hesitate to let him rule as Lord in every choice. We welcome inspiring messages yet pull back from full obedience. This passage presses on your conscience because it exposes that tendency in every heart.
    The good news of the gospel is not that we must try harder in our own power. The solution is Christ himself. Jesus is not merely the teacher of these words. He is the rock. At the cross he bore the full storm of God's holy judgment in the place of sinners. The flood of divine wrath fell on him so that everyone who trusts in him will never be swept away. When you repent and believe his perfect righteousness becomes your foundation. Obedience then flows from grateful love. Faithful disciples obey because they have been saved by grace not in order to earn salvation.
    As Charles Spurgeon preached in his sermon on this passage
    “you must lie flat upon Christ the rock depending entirely upon him with all your hope and trust in him alone. Jesus thou only art the sure foundation stone firm as the eternal hills art thou I build on thee alone.”
    R.C. Sproul reminds us that the question on the day of judgment will not be do you know Jesus but does he know you. Obedience demonstrates that we belong to him. No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is Jesus Christ as First Corinthians chapter three verse eleven declares.

    What Should I do?

    Students, let this truth shape your days right now.

    At school obey Christ when no one else is looking.

    Choose integrity in every assignment. Guard purity in every relationship. Speak with courage when it would be easier to stay silent. Your foundation shows in those unseen moments.

    At home honor your parents in the ordinary routines of family life. Speak truthfully even when it is uncomfortable.

    Offer forgiveness quickly and freely. The strength of your house appears most clearly in the everyday mundane things of life.
    In your private moments what you do with your phone and your thoughts when you are alone reveals the foundation beneath everything. Building on the rock produces holiness even in secret.

    When suffering comes do not run from Christ. Run to him.

    Let every trial push you deeper into Scripture and prayer where his grace holds you firm.
    Ask yourself this question with complete honesty.

    Am I merely hearing the words of Jesus or am I building my life on him through daily obedient faith?

    Which House Are You Building?

    At the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus offers no middle path. There are two responses to his teaching. Both hear the message yet only one responds with the obedience that builds on the rock. One house stands secure through every storm. The other falls and the fall is great.
    Years from now the story of your life will display what foundation you chose. Eternity will reveal it even more clearly. Build your life on Christ. Trust him with all your heart. Obey him with joyful surrender. Persevere in him by his sustaining grace.
    When the final storm arrives only the house built on the rock will remain standing. Faithful disciples, who live now in God’s kingdom, who flourish, build their house on the rock who is Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
  • Empowered by the Spirit, Guided by the Word

      • Philippians 4:7ESV

First Baptist Church Litchfield
pastorjason.fbcl@gmail.com
217-324-4232
http://www.firstbaptistlitchfield.org/
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