SANDCASTLES: Fun in the Son

June 10, 2026

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying...

-Matthew 5:1 (NKJV)

Jesus walks up on a hillside near Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee and delivers His most powerful sermon. Probably over the course of several days, Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer and the Beatitudes, proclaims that position, authority, and money are not important in His kingdom, and explains that what matters is faithful obedience from the heart.

Jesus challenges the proud and legalistic religious leaders of the day, calling them back to the message of the Old Testament prophets, who, like Jesus, taught that heartfelt obedience is more important than legalistic observance.

The last verse of Chapter 5 could perhaps be a summary statement of Jesus’ message on that hillside near Capernaum:

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

-Matthew 5:48 (NKJV)

Jesus explains that there are two ways. There is the narrow gate, the narrow path, that leads to life, and there is the wide and spacious road that many will take that leads to destruction.

There are two ways to build our lives. We can build on the rock or we can build on the sand.

In Palestine, many would build their homes during the dry season.  When the fall rains came, earth and homes were sometimes washed away. 

Jesus wants us to understand that both builders get along well in the dry season, but only one built with the coming rains in mind.  Have we prepared?  Have we built on a strong foundation?

What are the rains that will come...the rains Jesus refers to? 

Jesus is referring to the final judgment.  Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with the following description of that moment, when Christ will return:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

-Matthew 7: 21-23 (NKJV)

In that day, when Christ returns, we will stand before Him and many will be washed away for they will have built their lives upon sand. Jesus will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me...”

Jesus is saying...

So how can one build their house on rock? How do we do this? 

Jesus answers that question in Matthew 7: 24 (NKJV) - “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...”

The Message translation puts it this way:

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.  But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.

 – Matthew 7: 24-27 (The Message)

Jesus says if one hears His words and does them, lives them, that person is like a man who built his house on the rock and when the rains came, when the day comes and Christ returns, that person will withstand the rains. His foundation will pass inspection and he will be welcomed into the kingdom.

What words does Jesus speak of? 

Remember, the parable of the house built on rock and sand comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. The crowds have sat for days listening to Jesus’ teachings, and now at the end of this discourse Jesus states, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...”

What words does Jesus speak of?  Jesus is talking about the words He has just shared in the Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the Beatitudes.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about the heart...

Jesus challenges us to look at our hearts.  Jesus explains throughout His Sermon on the Mount that a true follower, by acting on His words, is like a person who builds their house on solid rock.  The one who builds on rock is a disciple who hears and responds to God's Word, not a superficial follower. The one who builds on rock is one whose heart is truly centered on Christ and is putting Jesus’ teachings into practice out of love for Him. Their obedience flows out of a heart centered on God.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that on the day of judgment He will expose those who appear religious and perform religious deeds, yet have no personal relationship with Him and have experienced no genuine transformation of heart.

Remember Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. His problem was not merely his behavior, it was his heart. His heart was "two sizes too small."

Near the end of the story, the Grinch stood atop the mountain with the Christmas decorations and gifts he had stolen piled beneath him. He expected the Whos in Whoville to emerge from their homes on Christmas morning devastated by all that had been taken. Instead, he heard them singing joyfully together. Their celebration was not rooted in presents or possessions but in something far deeper. As he listened, the Grinch experienced a profound change of heart, and his heart grew several sizes that day.

There was a heart change, and because of this heart change, the Grinch acted. In an act of repentance and a changed heart, he quickly returned the many gifts he had stolen from the Whos down in Whoville and made amends.

Jesus challenges us to look at our hearts.

You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

-Matthew 5: 21-22 (The Message)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

-Matthew 5: 27-28 (NIV)

F. LaGard Smith writes:

Jesus is not even saying, ‘Be moral.'  If His teaching stopped there, the Christian walk would be easy enough to accept.  After all, few of us have ever murdered anyone.  But Jesus takes us behind the rule and within the heart of the law to its very essence.  It is not enough not to kill; we must not even hate.  It is not enough to not commit adultery; we must not ever wish we could.  It is not enough to love the loveable; we must also love those who are unlovable, even those who we might consider to be enemies.

Jesus is looking at the heart, not outward appearance.

And His teaching gets even tougher. Jesus declares:

Turn the other cheek...

You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

-Matthew 5:38-39 (NLT)

Give to all who beg...

Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

-Matthew 5:42 (NLT)

Love your enemies...

You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

-Matthew 5:43-44 (NLT)

How can we do these things? How can we be obedient?

Only with a change of heart...only with a heart focused on and filled with God...

Even when we pray, Jesus reminds us that it is not about the outward appearance. It is about how we pray in private, when it is just us and God. It is about our hearts communing with and loving God. It is about a relationship, a personal relationship, that we spend time nurturing and nourishing.

When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.  But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

-Matthew 6:5-6 (NLT) -

Jesus says, “I see not your works...I see your heart...,” challenging us to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

The wise man recognizes that without Christ, without God’s mercy, they are lost.  George Whitefield said, “What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand!”

C.H. Spurgeon wrote, recognizing that on his own merit he could never enter the gates of heaven, “If heaven were by merit, it would never be heaven to me, for if I were in it I should say, ‘I am sure I am here by mistake; I am sure this is not my place; I have no claim to it.’ But if it be of grace and not of works, then we may walk into heaven with boldness.” 

Spurgeon recognizes he could not walk into heaven on his own merits but because of God’s invitation, because of God’s hospitality, because the Master has told His servant, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full,” we can enter God’s presence...

He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

-Colossians 2:14 (NLT)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

-I John 3:1 (NIV)

Once one understands...really understands...grasps their own sinful state and God’s amazing gift of grace and adoption, it is then and only then that one undergoes a heart change.

Jesus understood that there would be many in the church, many Christians who declare “Lord, Lord,” who will not experience this heart change.

Jesus knew that there would be many who will build their house on the sand, attempting to achieve on their own strength that which only God can do.

Thus, many will fail to be obedient...many will hold grudges...many will refuse to love the unlovable...many will seek their own rewards... many will give expecting return...many will be doing right by outward appearances, may have the respect of their brothers and sisters, but their heart will be in the wrong place.

Many of God’s children will simply fail to realize the gift that is presented them. They will operate under the absurd thought that they can earn their way, that on their own strength they can live a Godly life, and on their own strength they will fall into selfishness, pride, and worldly desires, failing to love as God has loved them, to forgive as they have been forgiven.

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock...

Building our house on the rock begins with a heart change...declaring as Wesley wrote:

I have sinned; I deserve the nethermost hell — but I am justified freely by thy grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ — and the life I now live, I live by faith in Him, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I now live — even in the flesh — a life of love, a life of holiness and happiness, praising God and doing all to his glory.

When Jesus checks your heart, will Jesus find one who has struggled, fought, strived to live a life of obedience?

Will Jesus find one who lived not out of obligation or fear or show, but lived out of love and gratitude?

Will Jesus find that you, like the foolish man, built your house on the sand or will Jesus find that you, like the wise man, strived to build your house on the Rock?

Will Jesus find that the Cornerstone has been laid in the recesses of your heart and has affected the entire structure, every nook and cranny, creating a structure, that because of Christ, no flood can destroy?