I recall hearing Leonard Ravenhill say that of
all church members in America, he believed only
five percent of them were saved.
He said that twenty-five years ago.
I believe if the old boy could come
back now and see the evangelism of our
day, he'd lower that number even further.
When I was a little boy I visited
a relative who kept a glass bowl of
colorful fruit sitting on their dining room table.
Well I was hungry and I wanted one
of those red apples, so when they left
the room I reached out and grabbed one
out of that bowl.
Boy was I a goof.
It was nothing but plastic, full of air,
with red dye on the outside.
Plastic fruit was popular back in those days,
in the early 1960s.
But nobody told me it was fake and
not the genuine article.
And that's the trouble in many of our
churches today.
We have many church members who appear sincere
in their religion on the outside, but who
are like that bowl of plastic fruit.
They look good on Sunday morning, but all
they have to hang on to is an
empty religious profession.
And they're not genuinely saved.
They are on the wrong foundation.
The title of my message this evening, friends,
is Sitting on a Sinkhole.
And my text can be found in Luke's
Gospel in chapter 6.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We'll be in verses 46 through 49.
Well let's look in our passage from Luke
as we hear Jesus describe two foundations that
men stand upon.
For there are only two.
You're either on one or the other.
Even in your ignorance, you stand on one
of them.
Let me read the word of God to
us at this time, and may the Spirit
of the Lord attend the reading of His
holy word.
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say?
Let me pause here, friends, to say that
a follower of Jesus will come under all
the rights and claims of the gospel on
their lives as they follow a crucified Christ
in a life of discipleship.
But too many have gotten out their pocket
knives and have whittled out a God who
won't get in the way of their daily
living.
Well, let's continue with the words of Christ
Jesus.
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings,
and doeth them, I will show you to
whom he is like.
He is like a man which built a
house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation
on a rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat
vehemently upon that house, and could not shake
it, for it was founded upon a rock.
But he that heareth and doeth not is
like a man that, without a foundation, built
a house upon the earth, against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell,
and the ruin of that house was great.
I will stop there.
In Florida we have something called a sinkhole.
A sinkhole is where the foundation of a
house gives way, and it's sucked down into
a large hole because the ground in Florida
is just sand.
But it's still sand with cement on it,
and nevertheless sometimes as sand gives way and
down your house will go, I fear many
today in church are sitting on a sinkhole
with hell below.
George Whitefield was full of good religious works,
and he was sitting on the wrong foundation
until he read a book that altered his
life.
The book was given to him by his
good friend Charles Wesley, and it was written
by a Scotsman by the name of Henry
Schugle, and the title of that book was
The Life of God and the Soul of
Man.
Whitefield realized he had missed Christ and was
not generally born again.
He was sitting on a foundation of sand,
and after he was converted his cry became,
You must be born again, and he shook
two continents for God and revival with that
message of regeneration.
Whitefield realized a sincere convert is one on
a firm foundation who has experienced the work
of God upon their heart, they have undergone
a saving change in their soul, they not
only profess Christ but possess Christ and stand
upon that firm foundation.
But a foundation of religious sand will soon
wash away.
Let me ask you, friend, what foundation are
you standing on?
Will it hold up in a storm?
The only foundation is Christ the rock on
which I stand.
All others are sink and sand.
Are you sitting on a sinkhole?
Let us pray.