"Therefore Whosoever Heareth These Sayings Of Mine..."

Matt. 7:24-27

  1. 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:
  2. 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.
  3. 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:
  4. 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.

Commentary

The most important part of any structure is its foundation. While this fact is obvious to most people when applied to buildings, its application to our lives is apparently not so obvious. Faced with a house on the verge of collapse, we often respond by trying to dress it up with a new roof or a fresh coat of paint. No matter how good these improvements may look, they will soon come to ruin in the absence of a secure foundation.

What, then, is that strong foundation to which our lives should be anchored? In this parable, the contrast drawn is not between those who "believe" and those who don't, but between those who merely hear the words of Jesus, and those who obey.

According to Scripture, true faith does not exist where obedience is missing (Jas. 2:26). If our faith is real - if our repentance and profession to follow Jesus are more than just words and feelings - then our obedience will be real as well, and it will show in our daily lives. This obedience is unlikely to make us popular with the world. We may expect to be ridiculed, just as Noah was when he spent decades building a giant boat on dry land. But like Noah, we are "moved with fear" (Heb. 11:7) by what the world refuses to believe: The storm is coming. Only those whose lives are founded on Jesus Christ will be ready for it.


All Scripture references from KJV. Commentary ©2011 Hitchcock Family Ministry. Unaltered text may be reproduced freely without financial gain. Original commentary and Scripture song available at http://www.freescripturesongs.org/therefore-whosoever-heareth-these-sayings-of-mine.