"The Wise Man Built and the Foolish Man Built" (Matthew 7:24-27)

"The Wise Man Built and the Foolish Man Built" from Matthew 7:24-27 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on June 22, 2025.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.citybaptistchurch.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Please take your Bible with me and let's go to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. And when we come to Matthew 7, we come to the end of the most famous sermon of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is called the Sermon on the Mount. We come to the end of Matthew chapter 7. Jesus has been preaching this for three chapters. And he's preaching on where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. He's preaching on how we should pray, and he's preaching on how we are salt and light in this world. We come to the end of it. If you'll begin reading with me, verse number 24, the Bible says, Therefore, whosoever heareth these things, heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Would you mark two phrases? One in verse 24, one in verse 26. The phrase in verse 24, a wise man which built, and this phrase in verse 26, a foolish man which built. The wise man built, and the foolish man built. We come here to this teaching. The Lord Jesus Christ is rounding up and closing off this famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. And our passage we just read, it begins with one word. Look at verse 24. What is the first word of verse number 24? Therefore. Now, if we find a therefore in Scripture, we need to find out what it's there for. Because if a therefore is there, it means something has been taught or something has happened, and therefore there is action that is required because of what has come. And so for three chapters, Jesus has been sitting and he's been teaching, and he says, here's all these things I've given you, teaching on the kingdom here. Therefore, here is what we've got to do with it. Here's everything I've told you. Therefore, how are you going to respond to it? And he's going to use this parable of the wise man building his house on a rock and the foolish man building his house on sand to help teach us what we are going to do with the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you make note of some of these things? First of all, would you write this down? If you're taking notes, number one, write this down. Both men built. Both men built. We find here that the wise man built his house upon a rock, and we all build, and we all build upon a foundation. You say, what do you mean? I mean we're all building something. We're all, our lives are all built on something. Our careers are all built on something. Our relationships are all built on something. This church is being built on some kind of foundation. Hold your place here with me, if you will, and let me give you another example in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, Jesus is teaching in a parallel account. And he's teaching here in Luke chapter 6, if you look at me at verse number 43, as we think about both of these men built. Verse 43 of Luke 6 says, For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns, men do not gather figs, nor of brambles. Bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the substance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 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. Verse 48. He is like a man, which built an house, and what are the next two words? Digged deep. You know what? You know what building a house upon a rock is? It's digging deep. That means God going deeper with us, and us going deeper with God. God wants to take us further. God wants to dig deeper. But how often do we as Christians, God begins to work in our heart and life, and he begins to move in our lives and guide us and direct us? And maybe we follow for a little while, and he says, I want to go deeper. I want to go further. And what do we say? We say, nope, that's enough. How often do we do we hinder and halt the work of the Lord, the work of the Lord in our own lives? It says here in verse 48 of Luke 6, He digged deep and he laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. Look what it says in verse 49. But he that heareth and doeth not is like a man. With what kind of foundation does he have? Without a foundation. He's building, and there's nothing he's building upon. And so when the floods come and the rains come, it says, it immediately fell, and great was the fall of that house. We're all building. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 11 says, For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. What are we building our life upon? The things that mean the most, our families, our jobs, the people we know and love, and our relationships. Are we building upon the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we building upon sinking sand? The foolish man built his house on sand. Would you go with me to the book of Psalms? Psalm 14. In Psalm 14, speaking of the foolish man, I think we find the best description of the foolish man we can find in the Bible in Psalm 14, verse number 1, where it says, The fool hath said in his heart, What? There is no God. And so, what is this foolish man doing who is laying the foundation in Matthew chapter 7? He is building a foundation upon everything except that which is grounded, that which is dug deep, and that which is the Lord Jesus Christ. But how often do we as Christians who claim the name of Christ live like the fool? We say we're building a foundation, we say we're building it upon Christ, and yet we in our own actions prove how does how does the fool, look, the fool says in his heart there is no God, but how do we know that he believes there is no God? I believe two ways, by his words and by his works. By the things which the foolish man says, we can tell he believes there is no God. And by the things he does, by the way in which he lives his life, we can tell he believes there is no God. Why do people in this world today live the way they do? Why do they live such destructive lives? You know why? Because they've said in their heart there is no God. If there is no God, then there is no eternity. They're living for this world. Why? Because of what they believe in their heart, and we will lay a certain foundation, either as a wise man or a foolish man. Because of what we believe to be true about God. We may say we believe in God, but often our actions prove we're just functioning atheists. We're not building our lives on anything but shifting sand. My summers were characterized by many things, but one thing, especially growing up, my mom and dad are here, my brother's here this evening, and they could tell you. Every summer, what do we do? We went to the beach. Beach vacation. We went to the Gulf of Mexico. Now, ever since we went, now it's been changed. It's the Gulf of America now. And we went down and we went to the beach, and what do we do? We built sand castles. I have no doubt built hundreds of sandcastles in my day, and some pretty fine ones, I will say. But I could tell you without a doubt, none of those sandcastles are standing today. They're all gone. Now, the places we stayed, the condos we stayed in, they're still there. Hurricanes have come, storms have come. Unless the developer has come and knocked them down, I think they're still there. But what made the difference? Why are the sandcastles gone and the places where we stayed still there? Because the way they were built. Because the condos, the places we stayed, they were built on a firm foundation. There's a developer that came along and he said, now we're going to dig as deep as we have to to put this on a good foundation. If they would have just come and said, Oh, these dunes look pretty good and built upon those sand dunes, they'd have been gone long ago. But we find we're all building on something. You know, we're either building, 1 Corinthians 3 tells us we're either building with wood, hay, and stubble, or we're building with gold, silver, and precious stones. You know, wood, hay, and stubble? That means it's all going to burn up and it's all going to pass away. Or we're building with something that will last. Now, why is it important that we build with something that lasts? Would you make note of a second thing? Not only do we all build, or both men built, but if you make note of a second thing, back in our passage in Matthew 7, both men faced storms. Both men built, and both men faced storms. You think I'm going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and now it's easy street, all the way to the end. Oh no. Look with me, please, at verse number 25. This is speaking of the wise man. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house. Would you look at verse number 27 with me? This speaks of the foolish man. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house. What's the difference? There's no difference. The rains came, the winds blew, and it beat on that house. Both men built, both men faced storms, but the foundation was proven in the storm. Job says in Job 5 and verse 7, yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. He says, Look, if you're born, you're going to know trouble. He says later on in Job 14 and verse 1, man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Well, if we're going to face storms, if we're going to face trouble in this life, we know storms are coming, what should we do? We should build for the storm. I've heard preachers say all through the years, you're either coming into a storm, you are in a storm, or you're coming out of a storm. We're going to face storms. There are going to be difficult times. We're going to face things we cannot deal with on our own, so we build for the storm. You know why the state of Florida has the strictest building codes in the entire nation? You say, 200 plus days of sunshine a year. You know why? They don't build for the days of sunshine. They build for the days of storms. Because they know the storm is coming. And in our lives, a storm is coming. You say, I don't know, things are going pretty well right now, Pastor. Well, buckle up. Batting down the hatches because Jesus said here, are you a wise man? All right, the rain's going to come, the floods are going to come, the wind's going to blow, and it's going to beat on your house. If you're a foolish man, the rain's going to come, flood's going to come, wind's going to blow, and it's going to beat on that house. I think of that word. I think about it beating on the house. It's like the storm is just letting go, punch after punch after punch, on that house. And how do what is going to happen? Proverbs 10.25 says, the righteous is an everlasting foundation. Would you turn with me to the first Psalm? The first Psalm. Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, we find a picture here of the blessed man. And you know what it says in Psalm 1? It says, Blessed is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his way, in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a what? A tree. A tree that is what? Planted by the rivers of water. That tree, do you think that tree had to go through some storms? Absolutely. Do you think that tree had to withstand some monsoon? Absolutely. It's planted by the rivers of water. There's many years ago there was a study being done on trees that were built in a large terrarium. There was a massive terrarium where they could, they had trees that were full-sized trees being, you know, that were several stories high being built in this terrarium. And the trees kept coming unrooted. There was no, there was no there was no effects, no natural effects in this, no wind blowing anything, but the trees kept having shallow roots and they kept falling over, and they realized what was happening was they were putting them in this terrarium, and there was no natural wind blowing against the trees. It was the wind that blew against the trees that caused the roots to keep holding on and the roots to go deeper and deeper and hold on because it was the wind and it was the storms and it was the rain that was strengthening those trees. We don't want the storms. We don't like the storms. But Psalm says, the blessed man, he's a tree, and he is planted by these rivers of water. And when the winds blow and the rains come, it stands sure and it stands firm. Why? Because its foundation is right. Ephesians chapter 4, would you go with me there? Ephesians 4, Paul writing here to this church, which he knows and loves. And he's writing this church at Ephesus. And he says in Ephesians 4 and verse number 14, he says, That we henceforth be no more children. What's the next word? Tossed to and fro, and carried about with every what? Wind of doctrine. What does that sound like? It sounds like a storm. In fact, it sounds like a doctrinal storm. He says here, you shouldn't be like children, tossed to and fro, carried about every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may, what are those next two words? Grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. He's saying, how are you gonna keep church at Ephesus from being blown about, carried about, every wind of doctrine tossing you to and fro? You've got to grow up. You've got to put some roots down. You need a strong foundation that's gonna hold on to you when things start turning upside down. And it says here, grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. There's a story from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I love Pilgrim's Progress. It's such a good one. It's almost 400 years old. And John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress, it's an allegory. So all the people and all the places are symbolic of people and places and a path along the Christian life. And there's a man that Christian and faithful meet along the way, and his name is Mr. Bai-ends. Mr. Bayan's has three friends. Their names are Mr. Hold the World, Mr. Money Love, and Mr. Save All. So you probably know everything you need to about him, just knowing who his friends are, right? And Mr. Bayan's, they invite him to walk along with him. Christian and faithful say, look, come along with us. And he says, No, no, no, no, I your way is too hard. I don't want to go that way. This is what Mr. Bayan says. He says to his friends, Mr. Hold the World, Mr. Money Love, Mr. Save All, he says, They, speaking of Christian and hopeful, he says, they rush on their journey in all weather, and I am for waiting for wind and tide. They are for hazarding all for God at a clap, and I am for taking all advantages to secure my life and estate. They are for holding their notions, though all other men against them, or be against them. But I am for religion so far as the times and my safety will bear it. Here's what he says at the end. He says, They are for religion when in rags and contempt, but I am for him when he walks in his golden slippers in the sunshine and with applause. How often are we like Mr. Bayan's, and we say, Look, I'll go along with it if there's not going to be any storms. But let me tell you something. Storms are coming. If we're going to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to face the contempt of the world. If we're going to stand up for what's right, we're going to face the wiles of the devil. And what are we going to do when the rain comes and the winds blow and the floods come up and they beat upon that house? How are we going to truly build our lives on the rock? Here's the crux of the message. Would you make note of a third thing? Look, both men built, and both men faced storms. Thirdly, come back with me to Matthew chapter 7. One thing, would you write this down thirdly? One thing makes the difference. One thing makes the difference. Would you look at verse number 24 in our passage here in verse 24? Matthew 7, verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these things of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. Now compare verse 24 to verse 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. One difference between the two. What is it? They both heard, one did. Verse 24 says, That heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. Verse 26 it says, That heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not. Two groups of people exist, those who hear and do, and those who hear and do not do. We may fill our lives with Bible reading. You might read every Bible reading plan that you version has to offer. You might have Bible preaching on loop in your car everywhere you go. You listen to Bible preaching. You might memorize verses. But if we hear it and don't do it, we're a foolish man building our house upon sand. I've talked to people, I've counseled people, and they say, Oh, our home is full of the Bible. We read the Bible all the time. We listen to lots of preaching. I hear all these things. But they haven't taken anything and applied it to their lives. They just hear it. They just hear it. They just hear it and they don't do it. And what does he say here? That person is the foolish man that built their house on the sand. Now we think, I've heard so much teaching. I've taken it all in. But it hasn't changed us. It hasn't made any difference in our life. We haven't done it. Psalm 15 and verse 5 says, He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Luke 11, verse 28 says, But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. They hear it and they do it. John 13, 17, Jesus says, If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. How often do we know the things we ought to do? We know the things that Jesus says. We know teaching from the Bible, but we don't do it. We don't follow it. My children, they may all know exactly what I expect of them as a father, but if they don't do it, what's going to happen? Oh, they're a foolish man building on sand. They're going to be judged for it, right? 1 John 2.17 says, And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Would you go with me to James chapter 1? Maybe one of the clearest passages taught on the hearing and the doing. James chapter 1, James writing here, he says in verse number 22, he says, But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. I want to read that again. James 1, verse 22. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Is the hearing good? Absolutely. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We have to have the hearing. But to be a complete Christian, we also have to have the doing. He says in verse 22, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. What's the next word out loud? Deceiving your own selves. Tell me, if you were to look on the wise man and the foolish man, you looked at their house, you probably could not tell a difference. You probably look at their houses and say, look, they both built a house. It's raining on both of them, but one is deceived. It's a foolish man. Because once that rain starts, that house starts crumbling. I believe he deceived himself. It says here in James 1 22, we're deceiving our own selves if we're hearing the word and not doing it. If we're listening to the word of God, but we're not applying it to our lives. If God is saying, go further with me, go deeper with me, I want to do more with. You and we push back and say, I hear you, but I'm not going to do what you're telling me. Then we're not just deceiving others, we're deceiving our own selves. You know what begins to happen? Our heart begins to darken, I believe. We're walking in deception. We think we're doing good when we're not. Look what he says in verse 23. He says, If any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. He says, It's like somebody takes a mirror and they look in the mirror. You know what the mirror does? Shows all the blemishes, shows all the shortcomings, shows all the hairs out of place. And he looks in the mirror and says, You know what the Bible does? It shows us all the blemishes. It shows us all the hairs out of place. It shows us everything that's out of line. And just as one who looks in that mirror and sees everything that's wrong and says, all right, no problem, and just goes on about it and doesn't fix anything. The same way as a person who goes to the Word of God and God shows them, here's what's wrong, and here's what you need to get right, and they say, That's all right, I don't need that. Heard it, read it, listened, didn't do it. He says in verse 24, he goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. Look what he says. Verse 25, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a what of the work of the work, a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. He says, You might hear it, but you've got to do it. And if you're going to be a wise man, building your house upon a rock, upon a firm foundation, you hear the word, you take all the teaching of the Sermon on the Mountain, everything God's given us, all his teaching, and you say, And I'm going to apply it. I'm going to do it. Go back with me, please, to our passage, because here's how Jesus sums it up. You know, this is at the end here, Jesus is tying up all of this teaching he's done in the Sermon on the Mount. And here's what he says in Matthew chapter 7, verse 15. Go back, just a few verses which we read. Look at verse 15. The wear of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Look at verse 16. You shall know them by their what? Fruits. Okay, you know them by their fruits. Their lives produce something, and it shows their true state. Alright? We know it's an orange tree because it brings forth oranges. We know it's an apple tree because it brings forth apples. We know it's a tomato plant because it grows tomatoes. We know they are ravening wolves. Why? Because they go after the sheep. Okay? Their works produce something and show who they are and what they are. Look at verse number 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Verse 19, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Mark verse 20, wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. So, how do we know if this is a wise man or a foolish man? What does their life produce? If it produces a house that's built on a firm foundation, that rain comes and floods rise and wind beats against the house and it stands, what do we find? Well, that's a wise man. Because the storm proves what he's built that house upon. But then how do we know if it's a foolish man? Because when the rain comes and the floods rise and the wind beats on that house and it falls to pieces. We say, we know them by their fruits. They are a foolish man who has built upon a sinking sand foundation. But Jesus goes on in these next three verses. Would you look at me, please, at verse 21 to 23? And this is how he sums all of this up before he comes to this parable. And this, you know, verse 21 to 23, I think, are some of the most alarming, maybe we could say, alarming verses in all the New Testament. Here's what he says in verse 21. He says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that, read that next word out loud, doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. So there are some that will say, Lord, Lord, they'll call him by name, they'll call him Lord. But he says, They're not going to enter in to the kingdom of heaven. Look at verse 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. There it is again. And they say this phrase in thy name. They say it three times. They say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done wonderful works. Three times. They say, there's three, look, we cast out devils, we prophesied, we did wonderful works, all of these in thy name. And yet Jesus says in verse 23, Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. You say, How is that, Pastor? They they said they did all of these things in the name of Christ. Prophesied, cast out devils? They did wonderful works. You know why? Because they named him, but they never knew him. They said, Lord, Lord. But he says, I never knew you, and you never truly knew me. You know why that is? Because all these works that they've done, you say, look, they did good works. They even called them, they even called them here wonderful works. These people were foolish like this foolish man, because they have chosen their own works instead of God's works. You know what they did? They said, I'm going to do these things. These are good things, and I'll call them God's things. You know, we live in a world of people who live the life they want to live, and they blame it on God. They choose, well, I'll do this and I'll do this and I'll do this, and these are all really good things. And Lord, Lord, I'm doing them in your name. And God says, I don't have any part of that. In fact, here's what God says in verse number 23. He says, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me. Look at this last phrase. Ye that work iniquity. Can you imagine people saying, I am doing works in the name of God, prophesying, casting out devils, doing wonderful works, and yet God calls them a worker of iniquity, an evil worker. You know why? Because they have done their own works and they've done nothing that has to do with the work of God. You know, we could have a church. We could have a church at 425 10th Street Northwest, and we can say, we're doing lots of wonderful works, we're doing lots of good things in the name of the Lord. Oh, Lord, Lord, we're doing them in your name. And God says, You're not doing anything I've given you to do. You've picked these things out. You've decided how you're going to live. I think that's how many people sadly live their lives. They say, This is how I want to live. And I'm going to go online. I'm going to find somebody that backs it up. You know, if you watch enough TikTok, Facebook Reels, whatever else is out there, you're going to find somebody that agrees with your nonsense. That's how people live. Well, I saw this 30-second video of this expert, and they said this was good things. What does God say about it? When have we gotten alone with God and said, Lord, what do you want? What works do you want accomplished? What do you want done in this place? What do you want done in my family? What do you want done in my life? And we say, then that's what I will do. There's a man by the name of V. Raymond Edmond. He wrote a book many years ago called They Found the Secret. And it's it's little biographies, not the whole life, but just the times where people truly came to know the Lord in a deeper way, surrendering their lives to the Lord. And he writes this toward the end of the book. He says this, he says, anywhere, with the confidence of always. Frequently the same question comes, are you willing to go anywhere at any time? And the answer is yet the same, and please God, always will be, yes, Lord, anywhere at any time, so that life will be indeed this constant pageant of triumph in thee. And then he repeats, anywhere, always. And you know what it is about this wise man building his life upon a firm foundation, founded upon a rock? It's saying with the Lord, anywhere, always.

unknown 31:14

V.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Raymond Edwin was serving in Ecuador as a missionary. God began to deal in his heart. He said, Lord, are you leading me somewhere else in Ecuador? And God said, No, I'm not even leading you in Ecuador. I'm leading you somewhere else. And he said, Anywhere? Always. You know what we say with the Lord? Anywhere, Lord? At any time. Always. And we do it. Hearing, yes. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And then we do it. We put into action what God tells us to do. You want to be the wise man? Great. Hear and do. You don't be the foolish man. You know what the foolish man? The foolish man heard. The foolish man heard everything Jesus had said. He just didn't do it. And his house fell. Let us walk among those who are of the hearing and the doing, building our house upon a rock.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.