Luke 6:47

CHAPTER 21

THE TRUE FOUNDATION

Luke 6:47. “Every one coming to Me, and hearing My words, and doing them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like unto a man building his house, who dug down, and went deep, and laid the foundation on the rock; and the storm coming, the river beat against that house, and was not able to shake it; for it had been founded upon the rock. But the one hearing and not doing is like unto a man who built his house on the ground, without foundation, against which the river dashed, and immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.” With your mind on the wooden houses all around you, this seems a little defective; as a swelling river, beating against an American house, would knock it down even if it were built on a rock. In the Holy Land all the houses are stone, cemented from top to bottom, and consolidated, so it would stand indefinitely amid floods and storms, if the foundation did not give way. In the metaphoric language of the Bible, “high” and “deep” have the same meaning, really the same word stands for both. Sanctification is a high experience, and it is equally true that it is a deep experience. Luke here says that the man “digs down;” there is justification. Then he “goes deep;” that is sanctification. The result of all his laborious excavations is, that he lays the foundation on the rock. Petra, “rock,” is the very word which our Savior applies to Himself. (Matthew 16:18)

This word really means the great strata underlying the whole surface of the globe. Consequently the foundation can never give way, and the solid stone edifice stands indefinitely. You see the foolish man, in His contrast, did not go down to the rock bottom of the earth, but built his house on the ground. Consequently the floods and storms soon undermined it; so it fell, a hopeless ruin. Probably this man built a very nice edifice, as to external appearance, comparing well with his neighbor, who did so much work beneath the surface and out of sight. The world abounds in beautiful and showy Christian characters, which really and experimentally have no Christ. Storms are coming; death, hell, and eternity will bring awful issues, which must be met.