Founded On The Rock - Matthew 7:25

“ . . . 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.” - Matthew 7:25

    The great English Reformer, Hugh Latimer, once wrote to King Henry the Eighth, “True preachers should be persecuted and hated.” - (A letter of Master Latimer written to King Henry [VIII] for restoring again the free liberty of reading the holy scriptures.) Latimer’s point is as valid today as it was back in the 16th Century.
    As we will always see: the truth and anyone speaking the truth will always be hated by the world. Anything that refuses to yield to the ebb and flow, shift and turn, slide and slip of the “current dictates” of the world must be met with anger and hatred! For the truth, as they insist, is all relative. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” - Judges 21:25.
    Christ’s parable about building a house upon a rock or upon sand is one of His most direct assessments of the truth. He describes the truth as a rock, then deals a killing blow to the sands of falsehood and relativism - “ . . . and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”  - Matthew 7:27. This is why the world must hate the truth in all its manifestations.
    A week doesn’t go by when we don’t observe or hear of some worldly “philosopher” (I use the term in its loosest sense) purging out some diatribe against Christianity in general and against God in particular. Every time there is a tragedy in the world, these minions of intolerance hoist the flag of relativism and shout out loudly, “Where was your God?” As if every blessing and every curse doesn’t already fall within God’s divine ordinance. “Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?” - Lamentations 3:37-38. And depending on the severity of the event or circumstances this is what most people simply cannot understand: why does God allow such misery to escape His attention? A simple perusal of Scripture assures us that nothing escapes God’s attention! This alone should give every human pause for thought. Every “happening” falls within His ordinance and because it does unbelievers choose their own narrative rather than God’s. This is the truth, but it makes them more comfortable to build their houses upon sand.
    For the Christian, God’s words are the truth and the rock upon which we will stand against the lies and the opposition of the world. And it is here that we will be hated . . . for Christ’s sake. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” - John 15:18-19.
    The minions of secular society want nothing to do with “the truth.” They much rather prefer their own convoluted interpretation of reality. Did I say “interpretation?” I meant interpretations, plural because each of them has their own idea of what the truth is. As we’ve seen, for them there is no singular absolute truth. For them, the truth can be molded daily to become what they are most comfortable with at any given time. And so they build their houses on sand, watch as they collapse, then stare with hatred at the house founded on the Rock!