In Matthew chapter seven verses 24 through 27, Jesus teaches us how to build an unshakable life! There is ONE main point in this teaching of the Lord Jesus we must understand if we are to build a life that cannot be shaken by the storms, floods, and winds of this world!
Matthew 7:24 “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.”
There are two foundations we can choose from that we will build our life upon. Rock and Sand.
The foundation of rock is the stable foundation of taking action on God’s Word. When we commit to hear and obey the Word of God we can’t go wrong! We see this principle of hearing and obeying extremely clear in James chapter one verses 22-25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” The Blessing of the Lord in any and every area of our life is attached to our faithfulness, our obedience to act on His Word. If not, we are just forgetful hearers! We look in the mirror of God’s Word but we do not use its reflecting power to change and take action on what we see – at that point the Word, though powerful, profits us nothing.
The foundation of sand is the unstable, ever-changing, approval-seeking, hearing-only foundation that crumbles under the weight of pressure. The builder who chooses sand as his foundation is the person who hears the same Word as the builder who chose the rock, but he does not change his ways to conform to the wisdom and instruction of the Word. He chooses his own way, he chooses shifting sand. Notice what Proverbs 14:26 says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Many times we miss this key 🔑 point but it’s plainly written in verse 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…” and verse 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.” Will we be counted among the wise or the foolish? The choice is completely ours!
The power of God’s Word is released in our lives by living faith and living faith has corresponding action! James chapter two verse 26 states a powerful truth “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Dead faith never produced anything but Living faith produces the promises of God in our lives!
Now at this point we can clearly see it is not enough just to hear but, in faith, take action and obey! It’s not enough to hear about the power of prayer but we must actually take time to pray! It’s not enough to believe in the power of the Gospel to save people we must tell someone of the Good News that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost! It is not enough to believe that God will bless us we must be givers! It is not enough to believe that God is our Healer we must pray the prayer of faith to see them recover. It is not enough to believe God is our peace we must keep our minds on Him to experience peace. It is not enough just to hear but we must also do!