24 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:

25 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.

26 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:

27 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.

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Matthew 7:24-29 (KJV)

Every good sermon is geared towards application. Truth must be put into practice if it is to be beneficial to us. Jesus says that hearing without doing is foolish and that wisdom dictates we practice what He has preached.

Our Reception of His message

We have heard Him teach what it means to become a Christian. He has taught us to let our light shine before men. Sin is not something we merely do externally, but something that begins internally in the realm of our thoughts and desires. (verse 24)

Our Response to His message

The emphasis is not on knowledge, but on responding positively.

We know a lot more than we practice.
You see, the issue here is not what we know, but how we respond to or act upon that which we know. Jesus says there are two responses to His message – two and two alone. One is to hear and obey; the other is to hear and disobey. There is no middle ground here. Either you hear and obey, or you hear and disobey. Knowing is not sufficient, giving mental ascent to His message in and of itself will not do. Even being a church member is not going to get you to heaven. That is the line of demarcation, the difference between those who authentically are His disciples and those who merely claim to be.

The foundation of our lives is the truth.
Our actions will consequently change as well. Jesus is telling us here that the authenticity of our discipleship will be readily evident in how we respond to what He has told us.

  • If we do not love our neighbors as ourselves,
  • if we do not forgive as we have been forgiven,
  • if we are hypercritical and judgmental,
  • if we hold anger and resentment in our hearts,
  • if we do not love as we have been loved, in spite of what we profess, irrespective of what we might claim, we are not His disciples.

His disciples practice what He has preached. (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The Results of Our Obedience

John A. Broadus, one of the founding fathers of Baptists, in his excellent commentary on this passage says, “There is a mournful danger in every age, that men will hear Christ’s servants preach, and will themselves read in his written word, and stop at that, without doing according to what they read or hear.”

Upon what are you building your life today? Are you building your life on the solid rock of God’s word? Are the building materials of your life made of acts of obedience? Will what you are building stand the test of time?