“Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 
And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” - (Mt 7:24-29)

We feel that the Bible has the answers to all the questions we as humans struggle with every day, and if properly taught, should have people pounding on church doors to listen to its wisdom– instead so many people feel that it is no longer relevant to the age we live in, and worse – cannot be realistically applied! This is a fallacy, and one we hope to address (and deliver some value to you as well) as we spend several weeks studying the Parables of Jesus.There is much wisdom here that unites both Old and New Testaments and is very practically applicable to our day to day living. We have picked the parables in the order they are listed in Nave’s Topical Index – and will hope to go through them all, God willing, before we take up our next book to study.

This weeks Parable is from the gospel of Matthew who locates it at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount – and so it serves in one sense as a final word on the whole sermon.

Immediately preceding these words, we have perhaps the most frightening words our Lord has ever uttered … “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” -Mt 7:21, and he follows that up with a description of people that that call Him Lord, Lord, and say that IN HIS NAME – THEY – have done many wonderful works – only to be met with a startling rebuff by Him, saying that He NEVER knew them! He then turns immediately and says that whoever HEARS and DOES His sayings is wise – is this a doctrine of works that He is preaching – how can we reconcile it with the passage beginning in Matt 7:21?

We have, in our “Are you Saved” video, explained this passage in detail - that calling Christ Lord, and in His Name, taking credit (they say that THEY have done many works) for what He does, does not mean that they are known by Him. A true follower of Christ will always give God the glory for what He is pleased to work through him/her! The fact that these people are performing “works” in His Name (and that they seem to work) just goes to show that our God honors the Name of His Son, in performing good works, irrespective of who performs them! If this seems extreme, just stop and remember that we are ALL, even the most exalted preacher/minister – sinful human beings, and totally dependent on God to act through us – else we can do nothing. So, the fact that you are doing good works in His Name does not mean that you are even Saved!

However, the pivot here is to notice what He says in the parable (which invokes the imagery of two houses to make the point) – that it is HEARING and DOING His Word that keeps us saved. Let’s examine that a little closer.

Notice that adverse circumstances impact BOTH houses. Being Saved or even Hearing and Doing Christ’s Word is NOT a guarantee of green traffic lights and prosperity in this life. Winds, rain, floods – the imagery is that of HURRICANE level storms beating against a house with the strength to level it! The only protection that we hear of in the parable is that the wise man builds his house on the Rock of the Word – and that is what saves his house – against the onslaughts of the world and the enemy.

Trials and tribulations were the lot of Christ, and it is enough, that the servant be like his Master. “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. (Jn 15:20-21). Some trials are sent to strengthen and refine us, others are sent to discipline us, or even so that we may glorify God through our response to them (think Job). We suffer (and inflict) spiritual and emotional pain from (and to) those closest to us, because we are ignorant of how Christ wants us to live.

Think about it – if you have a quarrel with a church member, or one in your family, do you resolve it before you go into the sanctuary the next Sunday? We are asked to help the poor with our substance… (the amount of help is irrelevant – e.g. even a cup of cold water is credited to us) how are we doing with that? Do we view our earthly possessions as being the property of God and to be used for His glory?

Are we constantly looking for security through the accumulation of riches, instead of laying up treasure in Heaven? Do we go out of our way to visit the sick, minister to those in prison, clothe and feed the homeless? Even if it’s not something we are comfortable doing personally, do we support the ministries that do them? How do we treat our pastors – as ones having spiritual authority over us and being accountable to them – or – having them be accountable to US to tell us what we want to hear?

The root cause of all this is explained in the text from John that we have quoted – “because they do not know Him that sent Me”. If we read our Bible’s we will get to know Who God is, what He promises, what He does not promise, what He likes, what He hates – and our knowledge of Him will prompt us to change to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

Sadly, if we do not read the Word, we will STUMBLE and fall away when persecution or tribulation arises because of it, or we will be choked with the cares of this life, and trapped by the deceitfulness of riches – to quote the parable of the sower/soils. Our faith in God must not be rooted in what He can do for us, but in His Nature – that ALL things will ultimately work together for GOOD to those called according to HIS purpose!

Doing what Christ says sometimes seems to be the very opposite of what our flesh wants ( forgive those who trespass against us?), but God is in the business of transforming our hearts and minds for our good! On the other hand, we are not to be doormats to be trampled upon, but are to be wise! being foolish is not a virtue in the Word of God – and it is the entrance of His Word that gives wisdom!

Life is complicated – and the Word of God is not a collection of bumper stickers or memes that we can live by. It requires study, and discernment to apply the double edged sword to our circumstances to rightly divide the truth. But that is the whole point!!! We MUST Hear correctly – the word is not LISTEN, but the word is HEAR – which implies an understanding that goes down into the soul, and then demonstrate our faith by our daily actions. This is why we need Bible Study in our churches, not just cotton candy sermons once a week, and why the Tabernacle is about teaching and practical discipleship through home Bible studies!

The good news is that we are to do this one day at a time. We can not live in the past or anticipate tomorrow. All we are given when we open our eyes in the morning is that day – and we CAN deal with our daily challenges armed with the power and might of the indwelling Spirit of God.

Make a daily appointment with God. Put it in your calendar. Be thankful that He is able to make time for you whenever you choose – and you don’t have to deal with His secretary! Pray that He would use that time to refresh you, to give you wisdom, hope, encouragement, counsel out of His Word for the challenges to come the next day. Ask that He would show you the baby steps you can take to start walking with Him, so that you can become a strong soldier, and a glorious witness. Pour out your heart and pain to Him and let Him deal with those that have wronged you and experience His peace as you pray for Him to bless them!

The authority of Jesus, and the Word of our God says that keeping His commandments is BETTER than works or sacrifice ( 1 Samuel 15:22 ). Doing His Word is not a work, it is an act of obedience. That is what means when it says we are to render our bodies as a holy sacrifice to Him – our bodies are to do what His word commands – once it is enshrined in our hearts!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Ro 12:1-2).

LISTEN, HEAR & OBEY! Hallelujah!