On the Rock Or on the Sand — E.A. Johnston

Jesus’ Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders

I want to read you a familiar passage of Scripture tonight, friends, but don't let your familiarity with it keep you from paying attention to it. In fact, I believe this message is one of the most important ones I've ever preached, and it could very well be the most important one you'll ever hear.

We'll be in Luke's Gospel in chapter 6. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be reading verses 46 through 49. Before we begin, let me pray. O great God, I come before you by the blood of your dear son Jesus.

Jesus, my advocate, who sits at your right hand. Jesus, my Savior, who loved me and gave himself for me. I ask you to come by your Holy Spirit here tonight and disturb folks. Disturb the secure, alarm the lost.

Make your word a hammer. They'll bust up all false foundations. Make your word a fire. They'll burn into the conscience and flush out all false refuges. Make your word a scalpel to wound and cut deep where divine operation is needed.

If there's someone here, O great God, standing on the wrong foundation, I pray you will awaken them to their danger. All I can do as your preacher is to preach up a bloodstained Savior from sin and point sinners to him so you can save them.

Open hearts tonight, I pray, and pour your grace in there. I pray, great God, you grant someone saving faith through this message for your glory. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

I want to set the stage for this Bible reading tonight, friends. Jesus was preaching to a big crowd, and he gave this parable. Immediately after teaching on the Beatitudes, it came right on its heels, so he had their full attention.

They were eagerly hanging on every word that dropped from his lips. He had their undivided attention. And that's what I want, friend, your undivided attention. So quit texting and get the wax out of your ears and sit up straight and pay attention to God's holy word.

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and dig deep.

I like that, dig deep. That's important. And dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.

But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.

The Two Foundations: Rock or Sand

I will stop there, friends. I want us to picture the effect of Christ's story on his hearers that day. They hung on every word. And his words were attended with such power and majesty they could almost see the swirling water cascade down the hill to that house rushing by with such a vehement force that the violence of the stream swept all before it away.

When Jesus finished his story, they each stood there with their mouths open in wonder with a sense of doom resounding in their ears where they could almost hear the creak and the crack of that timber break under the force of that storm.

And as that crowd dispersed and slowly made its way home that terrible imagery and the horrific sound of that crash rang in their ears. It was as if the very atmosphere was thick with eternity. When the flood subsided, they looked for that house.

But it was gone. It was absolutely unforgettable to them. Listen to me, friends. There are two kinds of people in the world. I don't mean rich and poor or young and old. But I mean those who are either saved or lost.

You are either saved and on your way to heaven when you die or you are lost and hell-bound. For a devil's hell is the sinner's long home. Man is either on the rock or on the sand. Which is it with you, friend?

I'm not going to leave you with indecision tonight. But rather, I want you to take a stand one way or the other. Don't be in between. I want you to take out your pens right now and write in the margin of your Bible one word in capital letters.

If you don't have your Bible handy, write it on the notes of your phone. Write the word that best represents you tonight, that best represents you right now. I want you to write the word rock or the word sand.

For you are either on the rock or on the sand. You're either saved or lost. Write it down now, friend. Rock or sand. Did you do it? Those of you who fall into the category of the saved, you know what it's like to build upon that solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's credible evidence in your life of the indwelling Christ. What you've built will not only weather the storm but stand the test of time. You're saved. You're on that rock. Men are either on the rock or on the sand.

And that's the title of my message tonight, friends. On the rock or on the sand. And there are some here who find Christianity little more than a crutch that some misguided zealots lean on. You're doing just fine without God.

You're like the man I once played golf with but he had a very foul mouth. Every other word he spoke he either cussed God or cursed. Finally, I turned to him on a tee box and I said, Do you mind if I ask you a question, friend?

He said, Shoot. I asked him, Tell me, how was your relationship with God? Well, he smiled a big grin and said, Fine. I have a great relationship with God. I leave him alone and he leaves me alone. That may apply to some of you here tonight.

Empty Religious Profession and the Coming Judgment

You listen to me because of a friend or you listen out of curiosity and that look on your face, whether it's a smirk or sneer, tells me you know you don't need religion to make you happy. You're getting along fine in life without it and without God.

You're on the sand and for now you're fine with it. Yes, sir, you're digging your feet in the sand and what kind of house you build on that sand you build on your own. But I submit to you, friends, there are some here who believe they are building on the rock because they at one time in their life made a public profession of faith.

But there's little evidence of a house on it, very little evidence of one who has undergone regeneration. Oh, you may have the bare bone structure of a public profession of faith with a little drywall here and some bricks there, but no sturdy house stands as evidence of a regenerated heart.

You've mistaken church membership for salvation. You are void of the living Christ, void of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit in your life. You think you're on the rock when in reality you stand on shifting sand.

And if you don't act and do something about it, a day will come. Listen to me, a day will come sooner than you realize when you will be found out a day future in eternity at the judgment where every man's works will be judged or a coming day in this love time when your world as you know it is snapped apart by tragedy or circumstance.

Everything you say you've built will come crashing down on that day in a pile of unbelief and rubble. It's time for honest talk, friends, and straight shooting. One day when death finally catches up to you, your soul will be removed to another world, to a world of spirits, in a place of either endless joy or endless torment.

Are you on the rock? Are you on the sand? Don't you want to know the reality of how you stand? If you're not truly born again, friend, wouldn't you want to find that out now while there's still time to do something about it?

Would you not want the honest truth about yourself now, no matter how painful it is or embarrassing it is? But you don't want to find out too late when you enter a Christless eternity of outer darkness.

When Jesus says, Why, call me Lord, and do not the things which I say, that means it is not enough to hear the sayings of Christ. We must do them. It is not enough to profess Him. We must obey Him. I know this from personal experience, friends.

A Lost Church Member’s Conversion

I was a lost church member for years. I know of which I speak. I know what it's like to teach a big Sunday school class and prepare lessons every week as a lost religious person. The day I discovered that the ground I'd been building upon was nothing more than sand, I almost drove myself mad.

I was home alone as my family was out of town visiting relatives. I was up in my study, reading a sermon by Solomon Stoddard, the grandfather of Jonathan Edwards. The sermon was entitled The Way to Know Sincerity and Hypocrisy Cleared Up.

The sermon was 21 pages long. It was about true and false conversion. And sure enough, that old boy, that old Puritan Stoddard, sure cleared things up for me. For halfway through that sermon, God opened my eyes and I saw where I was going.

I was going to hell. Even though I was a good church member and a Sunday school teacher, I found out that day I was lost, lost, lost. My foundation was only shift and sand. I threw myself down on the floor of my study and for several hours I wrestled with God in prayer.

First, I denied that I was lost. I argued with God and reminded Him of all the good works I had done. I dragged out my long track record of service and showed it to Him. I said, Look here, Lord. Look there, Lord.

These many years I've served You. Then I fell back upon my good reputation as a Christian. I reminded God how highly respected I was among my church friends. I told God all about my goodness and my good works and my good reputation.

And I saw that day, I saw that day, that good people don't go to heaven. Only forgiven people get to go there. The more I prayed and the more I argued with God and the more I defended myself, the more desperate I became.

I pounded the floor with my fists and shouted, I can't be lost. I can't be lost. Then God, in His mercy and by His grace, showed me that not only was I going to hell in my present condition, but that I deserved to go there.

My cries went from, I can't be lost, to the cries of, I am lost. Then a verse came to my mind, the words of Jesus spoken to me. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Before God could save me, I had to admit I was a lost sinner and in need of Christ's cleansing blood.

And by God's grace, I was saved that day. God really saved me. Well, I was too embarrassed to tell my wife when she got back to town what had happened to me because I was sorry to admit to her she hadn't married a Christian man after all.

So I waited about three weeks before I got up the courage to tell her we were standing in the kitchen one morning and I turned to her and said, I have something very important to say to you and I need you to hear me.

She looked at me with concern. I said, while you were away, something happened. I got saved. I really got saved. She looked at me intently and replied, I know. Since I've been back, I've noticed a change in you.

Evidence of New Birth and a Firm Foundation

Oh, friend, have you had this transformation? Do you know the testimony of the indwelling Christ when Jesus was here in His earthly ministry as He passed through towns and villages? Those who encountered Him experienced change.

Has your heart been changed by a living faith in a risen Lord? Oh, I hope so. If not, don't go to sleep tonight until you have this matter settled between you and God. Don't wait another day. It's too risky.

If you are a truly saved individual, you were built on rock, the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, and your life will be evidence of a house standing in glory to Him. When my wife and I were building our dream house, I first bought some land.

The land was rolling. It had some steep drop-offs, so when it came time to lay the foundation of the house, a building inspector made the builder use 18-inch cinder blocks instead of the 12-inch cold ones because to lay the land, more sturdiness had to go into the foundation, so we used bigger 18-inch blocks with rebar down through them to give it a firm foundation.

Care and preparation went into building that home, which my family lived in for many years. We had some pretty strong thunderstorms come through that neighborhood, even straight-line winds and ending rain, which brought down trees and destroyed roofs, but that house stood firm.

It was well built on a firm foundation, but I would have regretted it if I failed to be in code with building regulations and had only used 12-inch blocks without the rebar on that severely sloping lot.

That house could have been washed out in a bad flood or storm because of a faulty structure. Some of you here, within the sound of my voice, are on a faulty structure. You think you're standing on the rock, but the reality is it's merely the sand of an empty religious profession.

Seeking the Lord While He May Be Found

Hear me now! It's not the appearance of a house that counts, friend, in the long run, but the durability of it. Here is the point where I want to give you a call to action. If God has been dealing with you, friend, through this message, don't delay.

Don't let the devil distract you now or give you any excuses to come to Christ now and own Him as your Savior and Lord and know Him and know what it's like to build upon that solid rock. Do all you can.

Do all you can, friend. I'm getting serious with you now. I need you to get serious with God. Do all you can, friend, to get to God and become a seeker of Him. Become a beggar for mercy. Listen to the Word of God, which declares, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.

Call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon Him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.

Listen, friend. Life is short. Eternity is forever. Get serious with God and He will get serious with you. This could be the start of something tonight that will alter your entire eternal destination.

Jesus is no killjoy. He wants the very best for you, which is eternal life in Him. Come to Him and believe on Him and own Him as your Savior and Lord. Come place it all in His nail-pierced hands. Come surrender to God as I sing.

Christ the Solid Rock

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness fails His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. And when shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in Him be found. Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.