A Rock Solid Home

Temple Baptist Church - 4-27-2016

Luke 6:46-49

Introduction: 

A.  We teach our children the little song about the wise man building his house upon a rock and the foolish man building his house upon the sand.  The storms came alike to both with the wise man’s house standing fast and the foolish man’s house falling flat.  I fear that we too often sing a lot of songs that are nothing more than just songs to us.  Their meaning is clear but lost as they fall upon unhearing ears.

B.  The application of these verses that we read concern our building of our homes upon the Word of God.  The houses were built alike, the storms and rain were the same.  Only the foundation was different and made all of the difference.  The Bible speaks about the foundations being destroyed and asks the question, “What can the righteous do?”

C.  A house is no better than its foundation!  On September 19, 1985 at 7:17 AM, an earthquake of a magnitude of 8.1 hit Mexico City. 

1.  Of a population of 18 million, an estimated 10,000 people were killed, and 50,000 were injured. In addition, 250,000 people lost their homes, and property damage amounted to $5 billion. Over 800 buildings crumbled, including hotels, hospitals, schools, and businesses.

2.  Mexico City sits on top of a dried up lake bed which made the ground softer which caused the massive destruction. The expansion of the capitol (Mexico City) and the gradual draining of the lake left the world's largest population center located largely on unconsolidated lake-bed sediments. These soft sedimentary clay deposits amplified the seismic waves. 

3.  The earthquake did tremendous damage because of the inadequate foundations of the buildings.  Many lives may have been saved if proper precautions had been taken when the construction of these buildings took place.  Many times foresight is short while hindsight is 20/20.  No one ever thought that an earthquake would devastate Mexico City. 

D.  In building our homes today, we need to realize some things.

1.  We need to realize that storms will come.  (It rains on the just and the unjust)

2.  We need to realize that our homes will either stand or fall depending upon the foundation.

3.  We need to realize that the Bible has instructed us in the building of our home.

4.  We need to realize what it takes to build a home that will stand.

a)  Building A Home Takes Want – “cometh to me”

b)  Building A Home Takes Wisdom – “heareth my sayings”

c)  Building A Home Takes Willingness – “doeth them”

d)  Building A Home Takes Work – “digged deep”

E.  In the average home today there is:

1.  More fighting than praying

            2.  More Worldly exposure than Scripture

            3.  More Sin than Godliness

            4.  More Strife than Love

            5.  More Excuses than Obedience

            6.  More Complaints than Praises

F.  What does a home need in order to stand!  I want to look at our verses and reverse them for a few minutes.

1.  The Wreck! 

a.  The Wise Man Vs. The Foolish Man!  The mindset that we go into marriages is of great importance and helps greatly in holding the home together.  All marriages have “issues” at times that need to be dealt with and worked out.  One of the reasons that many of our older men and women endured was because they went into the marriage to “tough it out.”

b.  The Wonderful Home Vs. The Wrecked Home.  There is nothing any greater that a wonderful home where the peace of God rules!  A sanctuary to which we can flee from the wickedness, confusion, and turmoil of this present evil world.  There is nothing any more heartbreaking than a wrecked home where there is no peace, trust, or security.

c.  The storms came to both; the rains fell upon both; the flood waters beat vehemently upon both.  I mentioned this earlier but we need to understand that our homes are under constant satanic attack.  Also, we need to understand that two become one and there is a possibility of that one becoming two again.  When one person wants to make a marriage work and the other does not, it may fail.  One home stood while the other fell flat. 

2.  The Word!  In our story, we find two foundations upon which to build our homes.  Rock and Sand! 

a.  God made the marriage to work, not wreck!  His intention was one man, one woman, for one lifetime and gave the guidelines beginning in Genesis 3. 

b.  With the Word of God or Without the Word of God!  If God owns marriage, and He does, then God knows how to make that marriage work.  Each of us have a choice this morning.  We can either obey the Word of God or we can ignore it.  I will take a look at this in a few minutes.

3.  The Work!  The Work was different: one “digged deep” while the other actually laid no foundation at all. 

a.  I believe that each of these two homes were probably constructed of the same material, the same hope, but a different effort that brought about a different end result.

b.  One put as much effort into the foundation as he did the actual structure of the house.  No matter how fine and fancy the house built, if the foundation cracks, the home falls.  One put little or no effort into the foundation but probably as much work into the structure as the other.  It takes both the husband and the wife to make that home work and, if one gives up, then the home will fail regardless of how much the other wants it to work.

4.  The Wisdom!  The Wisdom of building the home upon the right foundation is one of personal choice. 

a.  It must be founded upon the Bible or it may perish.  At this point, let me say that I know of unsaved people who have built their homes outside of the parameters set forth in the Bible and those homes have endured but, in our day, there are more wrecked homes than wonderful ones.

b.  A home MUST be Biblically structured by both the husband and the wife.  I have seen homes fail when the wife wanted the home to be right and the husband did not.  I have seen homes fail when the husband wanted the home to be right and the wife did not.

5.  The Warning!  “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:”

Conclusion:  In order to make a home work, there must be:

a.  An Authoritative Principle: the King James Bible.

b.  An Abiding Presence: the Lord Jesus Christ.

c.  An Atmosphere of Peace: a mutual love and respect.

d.  An Abundance of Prayer: the house that prays together stays together.

e.  An Authentic Praise: the Lord Jesus Christ both glorified and magnified.

f.  An Acceptable Pattern: the order in the home must be Biblical.