Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
To understand the full context of what this is teaching here, it is good if we can go back to verse 13 and read from there through verse 27. For first we learned that we must enter the kingdom of God through the narrow (restricted, regulated, controlled) gate (door, way) which is a way with limits and boundaries and rules that we must follow, i.e. the commandments of God under the New Covenant. We must obey our Lord’s commands.
And then we were warned about false prophets (false teachers) who come to us in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. For they are those who are teaching against the narrow way which leads to life, and who are teaching the people the broad road (the easy way) which leads to destruction and death, but as though it is the true way into the kingdom of God instead of the narrow way which is the ONLY WAY to heaven.
And then Jesus let us know plainly that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For many are going to stand before him one day professing him as Lord, and claiming the things they believed they did in his name, and he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” For they wouldn’t obey him.
And all that leads up to this passage of Scripture in verses 24-27. And, again, the central message has to do with obedience. Those who are wise in the eyes of the Lord are those who are walking in obedience to the Lord’s commands under the New Covenant. It doesn’t mean they are perfect people, but that sin is not their practice. Instead, righteousness, godliness, and obedience to the Lord are their practice, i.e. what they live by.
When the trials and tribulations of life come, and/or when judgment comes, they will remain steadfast in faith in Jesus Christ, and they will not fall back into sin and rebel against the Lord because their lives and their faith were founded on the rock, who is Jesus Christ, and on the truth of God’s words, and on the truth of the gospel of Christ. For they are those who are entering through the narrow gate, who are not listening to the lies of the false teachers, but who are DOING the will of God the Father, in his power.
But all those who are convinced that they do not have to obey the commandments of God (New Covenant), who believe they do not have to repent of (turn from) their sins, and who believe nothing is required of them in the way of holy living, when the trials come, or when judgment comes, they will not stand. They will crash, because they put their faith in the lies of the false teachers and not in the truth of the gospel of Christ.
For, what did Jesus teach? He said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, we have the hope of eternal life with God. But if we deny him, he will deny us (Luke 9:23-26).
For the gospel of Jesus Christ – the one that Jesus taught, and that his NT apostles taught – teaches us that by faith in Jesus Christ we die to our old lives of living in sin and for self, and then we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So sin is to no longer reign in our bodies to where we obey its desires, for if sin is what we obey, it will end in death, not life.
So, please know that if you are accepting a gospel message which is telling you that you can make a profession of faith in Christ once in your life and now all your sins are forgiven, and heaven is guaranteed you and can’t be taken away from you, but that how you live will not impact your eternal security, then you are being lied to. For the Scriptures teach that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, we will not inherit eternal life.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
https://vimeo.com/379408296
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