Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock (Mt 7:7,8,13,14; 5:3-12; 28-32; 6:14,15,19-21; 12:50; Luke 6:47-49; 11:28; John 13:17; 14:15,22-24; 15:10,14; Romans 2:6-9; Galatians 5:6,7; 6:7,8; James 1:21-27; 2:17-26; 1 John 2:3; 3:22-24; 5:3-5; Revelation 22:14,15) (Wise Job 28:28; Psalms 111:10; 119:99,130; Proverbs 10:8; 14:8; James 3:13-18) (1 Corinthians 3:10,11)

Dear pastor, how would you describe His church you shepherd? Are you a Bible believing church or as Richard Wurmbrand asked Pastor R Kent Hughes "a Bible-living church"? A good question to ponder.

Spurgeon writes...

Here is the Savior’s peroration, and yet, it is as simple as any other part of the address. Here is an evident absence of all artificial oratory. The whole of his hill-sermon was intensely earnest, and that earnestness was sustained to the end, so that the closing words are as glowing coals, or as sharp arrows of the bow. Our Lord closes not by displaying his own powers of elocution, but by simply and affectionately addressing a warning to those who, having heard his words, should remain satisfied with hearing, and should not go forth and put them into practice. As according to usual experience a preacher warms to his subject as he advances, and becomes more intense as he nears his final sentences, we are bound to give the more earnest heed to the words which are now before us, with which the Lord of all preachers concluded his memorable discourse.

Jesus had been saying many things, but these are two words to which I think he specially alluded when he said, “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man.”

The first of these words was, “Enter ye in” (Matthew 7:13); and the second was, “Beware” (Matthew 7:15).

Our Lord had spoken of the “strait gate,” of the “narrow way,” and of the few who travel it, and his urgent admonition was, “Enter ye in.” Not “Learn ye all concerning it, and then be satisfied;” not “Find fault with the travelers and the road;” not “Seek to enlarge the gate and widen the way,” but “Enter Ye in.”

Be obedient to the gospel, believe its testimony concerning Jesus; enter into fellowship with its mysteries, receive its blessings: be travelers along its road. “Enter ye in.” He who hears of the way to heaven, but enters not into it, is a foolish man; he who hearing of the strait gate, presses to enter in, is a wise man.

Afterwards our Lord added the other admonition, “Beware.”

Beware,” saith he, “of false prophets;” and after having dwelt for awhile on that, be added in other words, “Beware of false professions.”

Of false prophets beware, for they may delude you, they may bring before you a salvation which will not save, a mere mirage that looks like the pure, cooling, refreshing stream, but which only mocks your thirst. Beware of all teaching which would lead you away from the one Savior of the souls of men.

And then he adds, “Beware of false professions,” however loudly they make you cry, “Lord, Lord.” You may have in company with these professions the loftiest gifts, Such as casting out devils, and the greatest abilities, such as only prophets possess; but they shall not avail you. In that day when the Master shall only accept into his marriage-feast the companions of his warfare on earth, he will say to those who have not done the Father’s will, “I never knew ye; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.”

These are two of the savings of Christ, and they are comprehensive of almost all be ever said: “Enter ye in” and “Beware.” Take heed that ye do them as well as hear them.

What a mercy there is a rock to build on! We could not have made one; but there is the rock.

J C Ryle comments that we have here...

a striking picture of two classes of Christian hearers. Those who hear and do nothing--and those who hear and do as well as hear--are both placed before us, and their histories traced to their respective ends.

The man who hears Christian teaching, and practices what he hears, is like "a wise man who built his house on a rock." He does not content himself with listening to exhortations to repent, believe in Christ, and live a holy life. He actually repents. He actually believes. He actually ceases to do evil, learns to do well, abhors that which is sinful, and cleaves to that which is good. He is a doer as well as a hearer. (James 1:22.)

And what is the result? In the time of trial his religion does not fail him. The floods of sickness, sorrow, poverty, disappointments, bereavements beat upon him in vain. His soul stands unmoved. His faith does not give way. His comforts do not utterly forsake him. His religion may have cost him trouble in time past. His foundation may have been obtained with much labor and many tears. To discover his own interest in Christ may have required many a day of earnest seeking, and many an hour of wrestling in prayer. But his labor has not been thrown away. He now reaps a rich reward. The religion that can stand trial is the true religion.

The man who hears Christian teaching, and never gets beyond hearing, is like "a foolish man who built his house on the sand." He satisfies himself with listening and approving, but he goes no further. He flatters himself, perhaps, that all is right with his soul, because he has feelings, and convictions, and desires, of a spiritual kind. In these he rests. He never really breaks off from sin, and casts aside the spirit of the world. He never really lays hold of Christ. He never really takes up the cross. He is a hearer of truth, but nothing more.

And what is the end of this man's religion? It breaks down entirely under the first flood of tribulation. It fails him completely, like a summer-dried fountain, when his need is the sorest. It leaves its possessor high and dry, like a wreck on a sand bank, a scandal to the church, a by-word to the infidel, and a misery to himself. Most true is it that what costs little is worth little! A religion which costs us nothing, and consist in nothing but hearing sermons, will always prove at last to be a useless thing.

So ends the sermon on the mount. Such a sermon never was preached before. Such a sermon perhaps has never been preached since. Let us see that it has a lasting influence on our own souls. It is addressed to us as well as to those who first heard it. We are they who shall have to give account of its heart-searching lessons. It is no light matter what we think of them. The word that Jesus has spoken, "the same will judge us in the last day." (John 12:48.)(J. C. Ryle. Expository Thoughts)

Therefore (term of conclusion) in light of the fact that there is no middle ground between profession and possession of kingdom life and the destinies are so diametrically different, Jesus reemphasizes the crucial nature and need for personal choice and genuine, not feigned obedience to His Word, in order for one to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Marvin Vincent commenting on "may be compared" writes that...

The picture is not of two men deliberately selecting foundations, but it contrasts one who carefully chooses and prepares his foundation with one who builds at hap-hazard. This is more strongly brought out by Luke (6:48): “Who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock” (Rev.). Kitto (“Pictorial Bible”) says:

“At this very day the mode of building in Christ’s own town of Nazareth suggests the source of this image. Dr. Robinson was entertained in the house of a Greek Arab. The house had just been built, and was not yet finished. In order to lay the foundations he had dug down to the solid rock, as is usual throughout the country here, to the depth of thirty feet, and then built up arches.”

The abrupt style of verse 25 pictures the sudden coming of the storm which sweeps away the house on the sand: “Descended the rain, and came the floods, and blew the winds.” (Matthew 7)

Hears (191)  (akouo) means to hear with attention, to hear with the ear of the mind or to hear effectually as to perform or grant what is spoken. In this verse the present tense indicates this person continuously listens to Jesus' words.

Note that both "builders" heard the same message. The difference is that this builder heard and responded in faith, becoming a doer of His Word. This builder placed His trust in the Lord, while the other builder, who heard the same message, placed his confidence in himself.

Acts (4160) (poieo) means does which expresses action either as completed or continued. In this verse the present tense calls for this to be one's lifestyle. Jesus is saying that obedience to God’s Word not just the hearing of it is an evidence of true faith.

J C Philpot asks that...

What is the Lord's own test of distinction between the wise man who builds on the rock, and the foolish man who builds on the sand? The rock, of course, is Christ, as the sand is self. But the test, the mark, the evidence, the proof of the two builders and the two buildings is the hearing of Christ's sayings and doing them, or the hearing of Christ's sayings and doing them not.

We may twist and wriggle under such a text, and try all manner of explanations to parry off its keen, cutting edge; we may fly to arguments and deductions drawn from the doctrines of grace to shelter ourselves from its heavy stroke, and seek to prove that the Lord was there preaching the law and not the gospel, and that as we are saved by Christ's blood and righteousness, and not by our own obedience or our good works, either before or after calling, all such tests and all such texts are inapplicable to our state as believers. But after all our questions and cavilings, our nice and subtle arguments to quiet conscience and patch up a false peace, there the words of the Lord stand, and, what is more, will stand forever, backed as they are by that solemn declaration from the same lips of eternal truth—"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:19-21) (The Precepts of the Word of God)

James also emphasizes we must be doers and not merely hearers writing...

Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:21-27)
 

An illustration of Jesus' call for hearing to be followed by doing is given by Chuck Swindoll in his book Improving Your Serve...

Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly. I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas. To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until the new branch office gets established. I make all the arrangements to take my family in the move to Europe for six to eight months, and I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization. I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you direction and instructions.

I leave and you stay. Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations. Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival I drive down to the office. I am stunned! Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk into the receptionist’s room and she is doing her nails, chewing gum, and listening to her favorite disco station. I look around and notice the waste baskets are overflowing, the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned. I ask about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.” Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager. I ask you to step into my office (which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).

“What in the world is going on, man?”

“What do ya’ mean … ?”

“Well, look at this place! Didn’t you get any of my letters?”

“Letters? Oh, yeah—sure, got every one of them. As a matter of fact … we have had letter study every Friday night since you left. We have even divided all the personnel into small groups and discussed many of the things you wrote. Some of those things were really interesting. You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two! Great stuff in those letters!”

“Okay, okay—you got my letters, you studied them and meditated on them, discussed and even memorized them. BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”

“Do? Uh—we didn’t do anything about them.”

(Improving Your Serve is a great little exhortational book - I found it good for a dull or dying marriage in need of some "polishing")

D. L. Moody once said that...

Our great problem is the problem of trafficking in unlived truth. We try to communicate what we’ve never experienced in our own lives.

Harry Ironside wrote that...

If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much

Puritan Thomas Brooks warned...

Reader, remember this: if thy knowledge do not now affect thy heart, it will at last, with a witness, afflict thy heart; if it do not now endear Christ to thee, it will at last provoke Christ the more against thee; if it do not make all the things of Christ to be very precious in thy eyes, it will at last make thee the more vile in Christ's eyes.

Søren Kierkegaard (bio) addressed Jesus' warning regarding hearing and doing in his animal parable on "Duckland"...

It was Sunday morning, and all the ducks dutifully came to church, waddling through the doors and down the aisle into their pews where they comfortably squatted. When all were well-settled, and the hymns were sung, the duck minister waddled to his pulpit, opened the Duck Bible and read: “Ducks! You have wings, and with wings you can fly like eagles. You can soar into the sky! Use your wings!” It was a marvelous, elevating duck scripture, and thus all the ducks quacked their assent with a hearty “Amen!”—and then they plopped down from their pews and waddled home!

Wise (5429) (phronimos from phronéo = think, have a mindset related to phren  = mind) means thoughtful, sagacious or discreet. Phronimos implies a cautious character and in Mt 10:16 refers to one as "shrewd" as a serpent. Phronimos also includes the ideas of one who is prudent, sensible and practically wise in relationships with others. In context Jesus explains that a truly wise person is the one who puts His words into practice, proving that faith in Christ's finished work (discussed elsewhere in the NT but clearly relevant here) is genuine. On the other hand those builders who profess or pretend to have faith or who have a merely intellectual commitment are foolish builders and when the storms of life come, including and especially the final eschatological "storm" leading to the "Lake of fire", their structures fool no one, above all not God and thus their everlasting destruction and doom are fixed and certain.

MacDonald rightly observes that...

If a person lives according to the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, the world calls him a fool; Jesus calls him a wise man. The world considers a wise man to be someone who lives by sight, who lives for the present, and who lives for self; Jesus calls such a person a fool. (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
 

Both "builders" hear His Word, and both build houses that ostensibly exhibit no differences in structure and quality, so that each house looks quite secure in good weather. However the land of Israel is known for sudden, torrential rains that can almost instantly turned dry wadis (Wadi) into potentially devastating raging torrents. It is the storm which tests the quality of the house, and specifically the nature of the foundation the builder built his or her house upon.

Jesus has a similar statement in the gospel of John declaring that...

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments....22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. (John 14:15,22-24)

The "rock" (4073) (petra) is "these words of Mine", the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Petra is the Greek word, not for a stone or even a boulder, but a word that describes a great outcropping of rock, a large expanse of bedrock which is solid, stable, and unmovable.

The "house" that is built on the rock is the life lived according to Jesus' teaching

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The Storm - Neal Beidleman survived the ill-fated 1996 expedition in which eight climbers died on Mount Everest. Some of them had paid $65,000 for a chance to scale the world's highest peak. In assessing what went wrong, Beidleman said,

"Tragedies and disasters...are not the result of a single decision, a single event, or a single mistake. They are the culmination of things in your life. Something happens and it becomes a catalyst for all the things you've had at risk."
 

On Everest, that "something" was a raging blizzard. According to journalist Todd Burgess, "If not for the storm, the climbers may have gotten away with taking so many risks. But the storm exposed their weaknesses."

The things at risk in our lives today—matters of spiritual indifference or disobedience—can overwhelm us when the storms come. Jesus told a story of the wise and foolish builders to stress the importance of obedience to His words (Matthew 7:24-27). He said, "Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Mt 7:24).

Obedience to Christ doesn't eliminate the tempests of life, but it does determine whether we fall or stand in the storm. —David McCasland  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Living for the Lord, fearing Him each day,
Best prepares the soul for the stormy way;
Then as trials come, tempting to despair,
We can rest secure, safe within His care. —D. De Haan

The storms of life reveal the strength of our faith.

The wise man builds his house on rock
Instead of sinking sand
By doing what the Builder says
And following His plan. —Sper

To build a godly life,
let God be the architect and His Word the blueprint.

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How To Build A House - I am not an expert carpenter, but I did build my own house (at least most of it). In the process, I learned that I needed a detailed blueprint and the help of someone who had building experience.

The construction project referred to in Matthew 7:24-29 makes mine look like child's play. What Jesus said applies to the lifelong process of building godly character. The detailed instructions are outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Here are some of them: We must go the extra mile (see note Matthew 5:41), bless those who curse us (see note Matthew 5:44), and treat others as we would want them to treat us (see note Matthew 7:12).

As we try to put Jesus' instructions into practice, we face the challenge of building. No sooner do we seek to obey than we see our need for the help of someone who is wiser and stronger than we are. Jesus, the Master Builder, is that One. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. When we receive Him as our Savior, we receive the One who was tempted just as we are, yet He was without sin (see note Hebrews 4:15). And He will never leave us (see note Hebrews 13:5; 13:6).

Study the plan carefully and seek the wisdom of Jesus always. Only He can help you to build a house that is strong enough to withstand the storms of life. —Dennis J. De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)