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.
And what did the wise do? He built his house on the rock. He dug down until he found a firm foundation. And that foundation was not wise sayings, but obedience to The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. It lay in a full response to Him. That was wisdom.
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.
Like the disciples we have to understand that being on a sound foundation is no guarantee that trials and tribulations will not come, for come they will. As everything would be thrown at them, apart from the smiting of God, we will receive similar attacks. Outwardly they would appear to have to face the same things as the foolish. But the difference was that while they might be ‘beaten on’ and have to face trials, the difference is that they would not be ‘smitten’.
The house had to face the same drenching rain, the same powerful floods, the same strong winds, as the other. But it stood firm. It did not fall.
And the reason that it did not fall was that it was founded on the rock. It had a firm foundation. And that firm foundation was response to and obedience to the words of our Precious Master our Lord Jesus.
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:
In contrast are not those who do not hear His words, but those who do hear them but do not do them. The words are firmly addressed to would be disciples. There is no sadder picture that these people who hear the words of life, take them in, but do not live them out because they have not allowed them to take root in their hearts.
Such people are like a foolish man who builds his house on sand. He could not take the trouble to establish foundations. It was not where he built that was different but how he built. He found our Lord Jesus’ words attractive but did not take them to heart. He built his beliefs on the sand of a failing world, rather than on the rock of Christ’s Lordship.
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.”
I like to watch commercials. I know I am a little strange but I use to be in marketing and had worked with the largest marketing firm in the US out of New York City. I remember this one commercial where a bar tender in this tropical island is watching a game show on the television. You can hear the wind, rain, and thunder in the background. Now on the show the contestant gets to chose cash or an all expense trip to a beautiful all expense paid trip to a tropical island. The bar tender keeps shouting at the TV, ‘take the cash’. The contestant chooses instead the trip. The bar tender shakes his head and says what a mistake as he turns and looks at the only customer sitting at the bar which happens to be the contestant who chose the trip. The TV program was a prior show.
We see that this foolish man had to face the same problems as the wise man’s house, the rain and the floods and the storm. This house did not stand firm, it fell. But really it was inevitable. Its fall was certain from the moment that he had refused to establish a firm foundation.
Here our Holy Lord Jesus disturbs His parallels in order to bring out two lessons. Firstly that it was not that this house had the wrong foundations, but that it had no foundations. For the point is that there only is one foundation, and that is the word that The Messiah our Lord Jesus has brought from His Father. And secondly in order that He might complete His words on a note which would not be forgotten. ‘Great was its fall’. Our Lord Jesus was not providing interesting sayings, He was preaching for decision. For He wanted them to leave with the recognition that that ‘catastrophic fall’ would be the end of all who did not heed His words and obey them.
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.
All who heard Him were astonished at the authority with which He spoke. For the Scribes in general taught by referring to the traditions of the Elders, which in their training they had thoroughly memorized, and claimed no authority for themselves. Although often they did them come to their own ultimate conclusion. But even then it was based on their authorities. Our Lord Jesus, however, spoke on His own authority - the repetitive ‘I say to you’ was unquestionably unique.
Our Lord Jesus said that He was the Way, The Truth, and The Life, and that no one can come to the Father, but by Him. Let me end with this heart felt message to you.
This would is getting more insane by the day. I just saw on the TV where another person killed a few people and injured many others. I saw in Europe where the maniac who killed 77 people received less than a 10 year prison sentence. Our World has gone nuts.
Now my friends it is time that we stop playing games. Just like those who heard our Lord’s message and put off the decision of getting right with the Lord. It is now time if you are one who has taken the same procrastination. Please get serious and turn to our Wonderful Loving Holy God before it is too late for you.
