Opening illustration: It seemed like a regular day at the beach. When the blasts of billions of tons of water wrecked the coasts of more than a dozen Asian nations on Dec. 26, 2004, most of the people on the beaches were totally unaware of the looming danger. In its wake the massive tsunami claimed more than 200,000 lives in 14 countries and left millions homeless. It was one of the largest natural disasters in history.
Life can be like that. Suddenly, without warning, you’re hit with a torrent of trouble. Like the psalmist, you cry, "All Your waves and billows have gone over me" (Ps. 42: 7, NKJV). Some of life’s "tsunamis" literally hit home. Sudden shock waves jar us, pulling us against our will into a sea of trouble. Suddenly we feel overwhelmed with horrible circumstances. The tranquility of life is disrupted and we wonder if things will ever be the same as they were.
Calamities prompt us to ask, "Why?" There are no pat answers. Yet there are answers for how we can survive these sudden tsunamis. It’s important that we anchor our attitudes in Scripture. Here are several heart attitudes we should maintain when faced with the floodtides of trouble that sometimes invade our lives without warning.
Introduction: These two sorts of hearers are represented as two builders. This parable teaches us to hear and do the sayings of the Lord Jesus: some may seem hard to flesh and blood, but they must be done. Christ is laid for a foundation, and everything besides Christ is sand. Some build their hopes upon worldly prosperity; others upon an outward profession of religion. Upon these they venture; but they are all sand, too weak to bear such a fabric as our hopes of heaven. There is a storm coming that will try every man’s work. When God takes away the soul, where is the hope of the hypocrite? The house fell in the storm, when the builder had most need of it, and expected it would be a shelter to him. It fell when it was too late to build another. May the Lord make us wise builders for eternity.
1. Be sure your "house" is built on the rock of faith and obedience to Jesus Christ (v. 24)
Jesus closes the sermon on the mount by a beautiful comparison, illustrating the benefit of attending to his words. It was not sufficient to “hear” them; they must be “obeyed.” He compares the man who should hear and obey him to a man who built his house on a rock. Palestine was to a considerable extent a land of hills and mountains. Like other countries of that description, it was subject to sudden and violent rains. The Jordan, the principal stream, was annually swollen to a great extent, and became rapid and furious in its course. The streams which ran among the hills, whose channels might have been dry during some months of the year, became suddenly swollen with the rain, and would pour down impetuously into the plains below. Everything in the way of these torrents would be swept off. Even houses, erected within the reach of these sudden inundations, and especially if founded on sand or on any unsolid basis, would not stand before them. The rising, bursting stream would shake it to its foundation; the rapid torrent would gradually wash away its base; it would totter and fall. Rocks in that country were common, and it was easy to secure for their houses a solid foundation. No comparison could, to a Jew, have been more striking. So tempests, and storms of affliction and persecution, beat around the soul. Suddenly, when we think we are in safety, the heavens may be overcast, the storm may lower, and calamity may beat upon us. In a moment, health, friends, comforts may be gone. How desirable, then, to be possessed of something that the tempest cannot reach! Such is an interest in Christ, reliance on his promises, confidence in his protection, and a hope of heaven through his blood. Earthly calamities do not reach these; and, possessed of religion, all the storms and tempests of life may beat harmlessly around us.
True wisdom consists in getting the building of our salvation completed: to this end we must build on the Rock, Christ Jesus, and make the building firm, by keeping close to the maxims of his Gospel, and having our tempers and lives conformed to its word and spirit; and when, in order to this, we lean on nothing but the grace of Christ, we then build upon a solid rock.
Jesus warned that waves of trouble would come. But you can prepare by securing your life to Christ, the solid rock. Jesus said, "Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock" (Matt. 7: 24-25).
Illustration: Having lived in the middle-east for a long time, I have experienced the impact of torrential rains, flash floods and other natural disasters which are not only life threatening but impact the nation (s) otherwise. This illustration by Christ would stir the hearts and minds of all the listeners. They exactly understood what Jesus was talking about. I have seen …
2. Anchor to what doesn’t move (v. 25a)
In Judea, and in all countries in the neighborhood of the tropics, the rain sometimes falls in great torrents, producing rivers, which sweep away the soil from the rocky hills; and the houses, which are built of brick only dried in the sun, of which there are whole villages in the east, literally melt away before those rains, and the land-floods occasioned by them. There are three general kinds of trials to which the followers of God are exposed; and to which, some think, our Lord alludes here: First, those of temporal afflictions, coming in the course of Divine Providence: these may be likened to the torrents of rain. Secondly, those which come from the passions of men, and which may be likened to the impetuous rivers. Thirdly, those which come from Satan and his angels, and which, like tempestuous whirlwinds, threaten to carry everything before them. He alone, whose soul is built on the Rock of ages, stands all these shocks; and not only stands in, but profits by them.
God promised, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." He guarantees "the removal of those things that are being shaken" in order that "the things which cannot be shaken may remain." We have embraced an unshakeable kingdom, therefore "let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12: 26-29, NIV).
Illustration: Monday, November 15th as I watched the news late morning, (it was Nov. 15th night) they were reporting live from Delhi about a building (with numerous apartments) collapsed in Delhi which was very close to the river bed. Number of people were killed with many being injured and some missing. Last summer they had had enormous amount of rain resulting in a flood of areas of Delhi surrounding the main river. Apparently the river bed doesn’t have rocks but is composed of sandy soil. Moisture had invaded the basement. What could one expect when the building was not grounded on a rock(s). Obviously it collapsed! That’s what happens to our lives when we are not anchored on Christ who doesn’t move but gives us strong foundational support.
3. Remember that your Christ is greater than your crisis (v. 25b) [1 Corinthians 10: 4]
These several metaphors of "rain", "floods", "stream", and "winds", may design the temptations of Satan, the persecutions of the world, the corruptions of a man’s own heart, and the errors and false doctrines of men; from all which such a man is safe, who is built upon the rock Christ Jesus; see Isa_32:2 not but that the rain of temptation may descend upon him, with great violence and force, but shall not beat him down; he shall be made able to bear the whole force of it; the gates of hell cannot prevail against him; the floods of persecution may be cast after him, but shall not carry him away; the stream of corruption may run strong against him, yet shall not overset him; and the wind of divers and strange doctrines may blow hard upon him, but not cast him down: some damage he may receive by these several things, but shall not be destroyed; he may be shaken by them, but not so as to be removed off of the foundation, on which he is laid; yea, he may fail from some degree of the steadfastness of his faith, but not so as to fail totally and finally; the reason is, because he is founded on the rock Christ Jesus, which is sure and immoveable: whence it appears that such a man acts the wise and prudent part, and may be truly called "a wise man".
You may feel completely overwhelmed. Right now you may identify with this lament that perfectly describes life’s tsunamis: "The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves" (Ps. 93: 3).
No matter how massive the waves may be, let your heart cling to the next verse. It’s the master key to surviving life’s tsunamis: "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea" (Ps. 93: 4, NKJV).
Christ is still in control. His single command of "Peace, be still!" will calm the most violent storms of your life. So live in His peace. Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. ... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14: 27).
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled. ... Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Ps. 46: 1-2, 10).
Application: Where have we built our lives on? Is it the Solid Rock or Shaky Sand? It is time for us to retrospect our own lives … Help & assist others to build theirs on Christ the unshakable Rock.
