Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
The verse opens the closing illustration of the sermon on the mount, setting two builders in contrast with one another. The picture is taken from the Galilean country, where dry streambeds in summer could become raging torrents in winter that swept away houses built on the plain, while houses founded on rock withstood storm and flood. To hear the teaching given there must lead to putting it into practice, for Christ's words are to be received as the foundation of character and life.
Coming to Christ means hearing His sayings and doing them joined together as one work, and merely hearing does not give a secure foundation. To claim Him as Lord while refusing obedience stands condemned. All people in every place and in every church belong to one of two classes, hearers who do and hearers who do not, whose condition and fate are shown by the house built on the rock and the house built without foundation on the earth.
The rock is Christ Jesus, and building on Him is receiving His words as the foundation of character and life. This building is to be done now, without delay, for time and for eternity, rather than upon the sandy foundation where many have built. The foundation must be laid before building upward.
Such hearing and doing means being yoked to duty, letting nothing turn aside from the path of obedience, and keeping the attitude of one listening for the Saviour's voice. Such hearing and doing means self-denial in the use of means, refusing to spend for self-gratification, using means as the cause of God demands, and laboring faithfully on through loneliness and sorrow and heavy overwork. The foundation is made sure by building with persistent effort and with gentleness and meekness and love. It is formed by discipline and experience in everyday duties, while science and education alone do not supply the practical experience and physical exercise needed to face life's hardships.
Those who hear and do are like a man who digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock with a deep foundation, so that when flood and vehement stream beat upon the house it cannot be shaken. A faith and life so built stands through trial and temptation and storm and through God's judgment. Those who hear and do not build without foundation on the earth, which is like building on sliding sand through mere assent to the truth without genuine conversion and practical godliness. When tested by storm and vehement stream the weak foundation is revealed in immediate fall and great ruin, which is the fate of those who fail to realize the evil of what they are doing.
Those built on the rock will not be deceived by false philosophy and science falsely so-called, but will hold that though heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle of the Word of God shall be marred or dishonored, made void or shorn of its authority. They find wisdom in the perfect law that converts the soul, meditating on His testimonies and keeping His precepts so as to be made wiser than enemies and teachers and ancients. New faiths that lack this foundation of coming and hearing and doing do not stand. Ministers especially must show practical godliness in daily life and character and not preach only theory, and all should read and understand this warning.
The verse opens the closing illustration of the sermon on the mount, setting two builders in contrast with one another. The picture is taken from the Galilean country, where dry streambeds in summer could become raging torrents in winter that swept away houses built on the plain, while houses founded on rock withstood storm and flood. To hear the teaching given there must lead to putting it into practice, for Christ's words are to be received as the foundation of character and life.
Coming to Christ means hearing His sayings and doing them joined together as one work, and merely hearing does not give a secure foundation. To claim Him as Lord while refusing obedience stands condemned. All people in every place and in every church belong to one of two classes, hearers who do and hearers who do not, whose condition and fate are shown by the house built on the rock and the house built without foundation on the earth.
The rock is Christ Jesus, and building on Him is receiving His words as the foundation of character and life. This building is to be done now, without delay, for time and for eternity, rather than upon the sandy foundation where many have built. The foundation must be laid before building upward.
Such hearing and doing means being yoked to duty, letting nothing turn aside from the path of obedience, and keeping the attitude of one listening for the Saviour's voice. Such hearing and doing means self-denial in the use of means, refusing to spend for self-gratification, using means as the cause of God demands, and laboring faithfully on through loneliness and sorrow and heavy overwork. The foundation is made sure by building with persistent effort and with gentleness and meekness and love. It is formed by discipline and experience in everyday duties, while science and education alone do not supply the practical experience and physical exercise needed to face life's hardships.
Those who hear and do are like a man who digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock with a deep foundation, so that when flood and vehement stream beat upon the house it cannot be shaken. A faith and life so built stands through trial and temptation and storm and through God's judgment. Those who hear and do not build without foundation on the earth, which is like building on sliding sand through mere assent to the truth without genuine conversion and practical godliness. When tested by storm and vehement stream the weak foundation is revealed in immediate fall and great ruin, which is the fate of those who fail to realize the evil of what they are doing.
Those built on the rock will not be deceived by false philosophy and science falsely so-called, but will hold that though heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle of the Word of God shall be marred or dishonored, made void or shorn of its authority. They find wisdom in the perfect law that converts the soul, meditating on His testimonies and keeping His precepts so as to be made wiser than enemies and teachers and ancients. New faiths that lack this foundation of coming and hearing and doing do not stand. Ministers especially must show practical godliness in daily life and character and not preach only theory, and all should read and understand this warning.