Life Is Not A Game Show Series

Matthew 7: 25 – 29

Life Is Not A Game Show

24 “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: 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. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

The disciple Luke also wrote in his Gospel the same comments by our Master.

Luke 6: 47 – 49, “47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Having given His firm warning our Holy Lord Jesus now returns to the idea of the two choices which are open before us all, but this time in terms of two houses built on two ‘foundations’. Yet it is not the foundations that the emphasis is on but the destinies. All must now decide how they will respond to His words, and upon it will depend everyone’s eternal future. Those who hear His words and do them will find themselves built on a foundation which ensures that they are secure for eternity, so that when the judgment comes they will stand firm. But those who hear His words and do not do them will find on that day that all collapses around them. They have no foundation.

The Sermon on the Mount began with the words ‘Blessed by God are those who are poor in spirit, for to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven’, ends with ‘great was its fall’. It is speaking of those who have turned their backs on following and obeying the Lord Who will give His life for all and have built on ‘false prophets’.

24 “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 emphasis here is on the fact that they have heard His words and done them It is not enough to hear, and to approve, and to ‘believe’. All these are good but they must end in action. His orders are there to be carried out. It is not a question of being saved by good works, but of good works necessarily resulting from true belief and a true attitude towards Him. If they truly believe in Him they will do them. Action is the inevitable consequence of belief, especially when the consequences are so great. If they truly recognize and acknowledge His Lordship they will have no choice.

‘Of mine’. This is the second time Jesus has slipped Himself into the equation when they might have expected Him to speak of God. Previously it had been ‘does the will of My Father in Heaven’. Now it is ‘Does My words’. He could so easily have said ‘does these words’, but He did not. The point He is emphasizing is that they are His words. And it is His words which are the foundation on which they are to build, for His words express the will of His Father. We can compare His words in John’s Gospel chapter 5 verse 17, ‘My Father works even until now, and I work’. Also in chapter 6 verse 29 it says, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe on Him Whom He has sent’. The same principle is in mind here. They must closely associate Him with His Father, and thus they must do His words.

Our Great King and Master Adoni Yeshua regularly speaks of those who do His will as ‘wise’. Those who are wise respond to His words. This contrast between the wise and the foolish comes out regularly in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Consider for example Proverbs 12.15 which is very apposite, ‘The way of the foolish is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel’. That is precisely the situation here.