Chapter 36

What is your foundation?

“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 shew 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: 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 an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)

God saves sinners by free grace alone. We are not saved by what we will, or by what we do. Election is by grace. Redemption is the work of God’s grace. Regeneration is the work of free grace alone. We are kept and preserved in grace by grace alone. The doctrine of Holy Scripture is crystal clear. From start to finish, “Salvation is of the Lord!” A spiritually dead sinner has no more to do with the work of the new birth than Lazarus did with his resurrection from the dead.

But that does not mean that sinners are passive in the experience of grace. God does not knock a man in the head and drag him to heaven, whether he wants to go or not. That is not the doctrine of Scripture. God makes his people willing in the day of his power, and graciously causes his chosen to come to Christ willingly (Psalm 65:4; 110:3).

In the passage now before us our Lord Jesus describes two groups of hearers, two kinds of religious people: Those who are saved and those who think they are saved, though they are lost.

True believers, those who have been made wise by grace, are people who do some things, people who, being quickened by his grace, called by his Spirit and drawn with the cords of love, have been made to want Christ and seek him with all their hearts. Therefore, they hear his Word gladly and do his bidding diligently. Digging deep, they have discovered the Foundation. They build upon the Foundation. And having built upon the Foundation, they stand.

The Lord Jesus also describes religious fools in this passage. The religious fool (Matthew 7:26) is one who does not take the things of God seriously. He hears the gospel, just like the wise man does; but everything with him is froth and folly. His religion is all on the surface, superficial and fake. With him, there is no digging, no building and no standing.

The religious fool is one who has made lies his refuge (Isaiah 28:14). They have a house of refuge; but it is a house with no solid foundation, a refuge of lies built upon the shifting sands of human effort, religious works and personal goodness. What is your foundation? Is your soul built upon a foundation of earth and sand, or are you built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus? Saved sinners are built upon and build upon the Foundation God has laid in Zion, Christ Jesus (Isaiah 28:16).

Christless Religion

Religion without Christ is a very common thing. The visible church has always been a mixed multitude. Tares grow wherever wheat is sown. Goats graze in the same field with sheep. Wherever you find gold, you are sure to find fool’s gold. While he walked and preached in this world, the Son of God himself had many followers who were his disciples in word only, many who pretended to honor him by calling him Lord, but were yet rebels and refused to obey him.

This is the evil which our Lord exposes in verse 46. — “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” It has always been a painful fact, throughout the history of the church, that multitudes profess faith in Christ who do not know him. Multitudes wear his name and use it who do not follow him (Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 33:31; Matthew 15:8-9; James 1:22).

Nothing is more soul numbing, nothing is more dangerous to your soul, nothing is more damning than religion without Christ. Nothing is more likely to keep you from Christ than deluding yourself into thinking you have him when you do not. Nothing in all the world is more treacherous to your soul than a mere form of godliness. Nothing is more likely to keep you from seeking refuge than a refuge of lies (Isaiah 28:14-20).

True Faith

True faith is an earnest heart pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are born of God know their need of Christ and seek him with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:12-13; Philippians 3:7-14). When a sinner knows his need of Christ, when he is fleeing from the wrath of God, when the gaping jaws of hell are before him, when God fixes it so that he is at his wits end and must either have Christ or die forever, he is in dead earnestness. There is nothing half-hearted, indifferent, or careless about him.

“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like” (v. 47). — Believers are sinners who come to Christ as their Priest, their Savior, trusting him alone for acceptance with God. They are people who hear Christ’s words as their Prophet, as their Teacher. And believers are people who obey Christ as their King, as their Lord and Master.

The Lord Jesus describes the believer as a wise man, who builds his house upon the rock. — “He is like a man which built an house, and digged 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” (v. 48). He believes on the Rock. He digs deep, sparing nothing, refusing to build upon any foundation other than that foundation which God has laid, Christ Jesus (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 9:33; 10:11; 1 Peter 2:6).

“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.”

The house that is built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, is stable and secure. Floods of heresies, streams of adversity, winds of troubles, temptations and trials beat vehemently upon the house, but cannot shake it! It stands firmly fixed upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.

“He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.” (Psalms 62:6-8)

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” (Psalms 40:2)

False Faith

False faith is shallow, superficial and unstable. — “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (v. 49). John Gill wrote…

“Such builders, and such a building cannot stand against the violent rain of Satan’s temptations, the floods of the world’s persecutions, the stream and rapid torrent of their own heart’s lusts, nor the blowing winds of heresy and false doctrine, and much less the storms of divine wrath and vengeance. They are in a most dangerous condition; they cannot support themselves; they must fall, and great will be their fall; their destruction is inevitable, their ruin is irrecoverable.”

The Lord Jesus here describes the religion of the one who merely professes, but does not have faith in him. His religion is a house built upon the shifting sands of the earth. His hope is built upon his poor emotions, his excited experience, his religious learning and knowledge, church tradition, his freewill decision, his self-righteous works or sentiments.

The false refuge house is a house quickly built. It may look very impressive, but when floods of heresies, streams of adversity and winds of troubles, trials and temptations beat upon the house, it falls. It falls because it has no foundation.

“The unprofitable hearer is not cemented to Christ by faith, but laid loose, as it were, upon a sandy foundation, and so slips beside the ground work in foul weather. He is not set into the stock as a scion, but only stuck into the ground as a stake, and is therefore easily pulled up. Whereas the true Christian is knit fast to Christ the Rock by the ligament of a lively faith; and as a lively stone, is built up in a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5), growing up in the mystical body with so much sweetness and evenness, as if the whole temple (like that of Solomon) were but one entire stone. ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:17).”          — John Trapp

Christ is the Foundation God has laid. Will you stumble over him, or build upon him? God help you to build on him. May God the Holy Spirit join you to him and build you upon him (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Don Fortner

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