Matthew 7:24-29

This year we are covering the four Gospel Accounts together in chronological order.

In the previous post, we covered Matthew 7:21-23. Here was the conclusion:

Jesus stated that there will be people who do good works who won't make it into heaven because they did these works from their own strength (as a cause) instead of allowing God to be the cause.

During the Matthew Series, we covered these chapters in detail. Remember, the purpose of this year's Series is to show the chronology and the role of each passage relative to the occurrence of other passages. For the rest of this Series, with each post I will provide a link to the associated Matthew Series post for those who want to go in depth with each passage. For example, here is the link to the Matthew Series for today's post: Matthew 7:24-29.


Matthew 7
"24 Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock:
25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if fell not: for it was founded upon the rock."

(In the previous post, we saw that Jesus had just stated that many would SAY they believed in Jesus yet they didn't DO the will of God...and they wouldn't make it to heaven. Jesus concluded His direct teaching through principles with this parable. Those that heard Jesus' words and DID them would be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rock was the deepest level. Notice, the rains and floods still beat upon this person: DOING Jesus' words didn't prevent trials and persecution, in fact we saw that the highest level of maturity from the beginning of this teaching stated that handling these trials and persecutions well were the ultimate proof of Spiritual Maturity. Here, Jesus said the same thing! The house did not fall even though trials and persecutions came.)

"26 And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
27 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof."

(Jesus said the man heard Jesus' words and DID NOT do them was like a house built upon the sand. This was not the deepest level. This was like a person who did not understand the WHY and HOW; they didn't know HOW to DO God's Will. Notice, trials and persecutions also came against this person, however, this caused his house to fall. Jesus stated great was the fall, meaning the consequences (eternal torment) were great.)

(Notice, the ONLY difference in this parable between the person who went to heaven and the person who experienced eternal torment was the one who went to heaven DID the Will of God...as an effect of knowing the WHY and HOW.)

"28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching:
29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."

(The point was repeated: Jesus spoke with authority. Jesus was a Semikah Rabbi: a teacher who could widen Doctrine because He knew the HOW and WHY. The scribes taught the Torah. They were Rabbi's...just not Semikah Rabbi's.)

(Notice, NOTHING in this chapter showed the RIGHT WAY for believers to JUDGE others. Jesus stated that we shouldn't JUDGE...and then spent the rest of the chapter telling us to focus on ourselves and whether we did God's Will...and allow God to judge people because we couldn't correctly equal out Justice on others while we are on earth.)


CONCLUSION
Jesus concluded His direct teaching through principles with a parable that emphasized the importance of DOING God's Will and knowing the WHY and HOW of one's beliefs.

Next Post