How important is obedience?
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 13 May 2012
Open your Bible to Matthew 7:21-27, 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
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 is nothing more serious for religious people to hear than these words. Especially for people who profess Christianity because our Lord says that there will be a many who are mistaken about their future destiny. Jesus points out in this passage the seriousness of empty words coming from empty hearts.
I can understand that there are people who reject Christianity, who want nothing to do with Jesus Christ and nothing to do with the Bible. But it’s far more shocking to realize that there are many who are saying, “Lord, Lord,” to Jesus Christ, confessing openly some attachment to Him so that they have actually functioned in His name, only to hear that they will not enter heaven.
One’s final destiny then is not determined by what you say. It is determined by what you do. It is not about professing Christ; it is about obedience to Christ. This does not mean that verbal profession of Christ is bad, no, it is good and necessary. We must confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.
Romans 10:9 -10, “For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and with the heart man believes.” It is also the work of the Holy Spirit because in 1 Corinthians 12:3 we read that no one can make this profession apart from the Holy Spirit. But it cannot stand alone.
Backing up that confession there has to be a life given over to ministry associated with Jesus Christ. And even the activities themselves have to show that. Prophesy in the New Testament doesn’t mean predicting the future, it means to speak forth. It is speaking in the name of Christ. They claimed to have actually exercised power over demons in that name. And even to have done some miracles.
Here is a life that could be defined as the life of a minister or the life of a missionary, the life of a teacher of the gospel or even the life of an Apostle who was able to perform wonders and have power over Satan. This is not then some marginal person making the claim, Lord, Lord.
Professing Christ and living a sinful life will expose you one day as a hypocrite. Profession alone has no value but there is a far greater profanity than from time to time misusing the name of God. The greater profanity is to all the time use the name of God and yet have no real commitment to Him. Now that is a life of total profanity.
If you just look at that statement, “I never knew you,” in the original language, it would probably better read this way, “Not for a single moment have I acknowledged you as My own.” That doesn’t mean He doesn’t know who you are. The Lord knows who everybody is. It means He has no intimate personal relationship with you. That’s the meaning of “knowing” in the biblical sense.
It’s frightening to think that there are going to be people cast into hell who have spent a great portion of their life giving testimony to their faith in Jesus Christ. But God knows that they’re only empty words. Now notice Matthew 7:24 -27, this illustration demonstrates the real condition of the heart beneath the empty words and the heart beneath the true profession of faith.
So listen again, “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.”
Now here we see another contrast that God gives us so we remember it. We have been looking at: Two types of trees producing good fruit and bad fruit. We saw: Two gates, two ways, two crowds and two destinies. And now we compare the construction of two houses both subjected to the same storms and judgment.
The contrast here is between people who hear the Word of God and obey it, and people who hear the Word of God and ignore it. This is about obedience against disobedience. And the contrast between the obedient and the disobedient is painted for us in a picture of two builders of houses.
The words here then are addressed to those who profess to know God. But this group is divided into two subgroups, those who really obey and those who do not. You see then in verse 24 those who hear these words of Mine and act upon them, and in verse 26, those who hear these words of Mine and do not act upon them.
And the stunning thing about this illustration is that you really can’t tell the difference on the surface. Both appear the same. The only difference is the part you can’t see, right? It’s not the roof, it’s not the side walls, not the windows and the doors, the difference is the foundation.
Jesus is talking about people who belong to the visible church, who have been exposed to Scripture. They have heard the sayings of Jesus. They attend meetings, they attend preaching, they go to Bible study and they may attend a Christian college. They may end up in a seminary and they may read Christian books.
Now what Jesus says here is that there is no way to tell the true from the false until the storm comes. The storm will manifest the truth. Then we’ll find out who built like a wise man and who built like a fool.
Let’s look at these similarities. They both built a house which constitutes a life of religious activity; they both built it in the same place because the same storm affected both houses! True believers and false believers are side by side. Much like our Lord said in Matthew 13, that the wheat and the tares would grow together.
And the time of separation would be at the judgment. Often times during a Sunday baptism we hear, “I lived like a Christian on the outside, but I was not a Christian on the inside, I was raised in the church, I acted the way I needed to act but I didn’t really know the Lord.” That is not an unusual experience. That is a very common one.
They built a house in the same vicinity which puts them within the framework of the true believers. They actually look the same. You could say that they built a house consistent with Christian development. It looks like all the other Christian houses on the outside. The only difference here is the foundation.
That’s why the Lord says, “Don’t separate in your mind the wheat from the tares, you can’t know that, only the Lord can know that until the judgment day reveals it. One builds on petra or bedrock, the other builds on sand.
A man is a fool to build on sand because when a storm comes, it will wash the house away. On the other hand, “A wise man,” end of verse 24, “built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and burst against that house yet it did not fall for it had been founded upon the rock.”
What does it mean to build on sand? Well the one who builds on sand has no regard for the Word of God in terms of obedience, not committed to a life of devout obedience, no willing obedience and there is no loving obedience. No regard for true spirituality of the soul. No regard for true purity of the heart. No integrity in behavior. No love for the law of God. No longing to please God.
The one who builds on sand prays, gives money, works within the framework of Christian life, but does it only to feel good about himself or herself. It’s the religion of externals. The outside looks good, but there is no foundation. They bring their bodies to prayer but not their souls. They worship with their mouths but not their hearts.
What is the rock? Clearly, the rock means these words of Jesus, verse 24, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine...” Verse 26, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine...” The Word of Christ, the Word of God, this is the word that saves, is it not? Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.” This is the gospel. This is the truth of Scripture.
So in both cases these people have heard these sayings of Jesus. But where they act upon them, where they obey them, there is a foundation that will stand the test of many trials and divine judgment. A life of obedience manifests true salvation. If it isn’t there, it’s deception. John 8:31, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
Do you remember James 1:22, “Prove yourself doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” If you do not follow the Word you are self-deceived by thinking that your life will stand the test of the flood of divine judgment. In Titus 1:16, it speaks of people who profess to know God, “But by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient.”
One thing that marks the difference between the two is a pattern of loving, eager, submissive, obedience to the Word of God. Obedience is the key. Hearing the Word and doing it is the only genuine authentic validator of true salvation. If you say, “Lord, Lord,” then immediately you should say, “I am Your slave and I’ll be obedient in everything.”
And for a new believer that first step is baptism and by being obedient the blessings from the Holy Spirit in terms of understanding and following the Word will begin to flow. All great men of God beginning with Abraham were asked to do something that they did not understand and yet they were totally obedient even under the most difficult of circumstances. And only then God began to bless them!
We’re not talking about perfection here, we’re talking about direction. I’m not perfectly obedient, but I long to be perfectly obedient. That’s my passion, that’s my heart longing. I have recognized that I fall short and that I am a sinner. I have repented of that sin and embraced Christ as the only hope of salvation and my life has been transformed and my heart longs to obey.
In the case of building on sand you build the easy way, and in the other case where you build on bedrock you build the hard way. When you build on sand you just start without preparing the site. You don’t have to set the footings. This speaks of the fool in a hurry, looking for an easy way using shortcuts hoping for quick results.
In addition he’s also very shallow. There is a shallow approach to almost everything in our culture. There’s so much superficiality in the name of Jesus that is accepted. No foundation exercises, no brokenness of heart, no grief over sin and no mourning over waywardness. The fool lacks sincerity.
On the other hand, about the wise man, Luke 6:47-48 says, “The wise man dug deep. He went down into the rock.” What does it mean? He is not in a hurry, not looking for the quick conversion, for a light confession. He wants to make sure that what he is doing is the real thing.
And secondly, he gives maximum effort. He counts the cost. Jesus said, “Look, you don’t go to war or you don’t build a tower without counting the cost.” You understand that the Lord is asking for your whole life. Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Me. If you say this is going to cost me my family, then let it cost you your family and your friends. If it means you have to be persecuted even to a cross, let it be.
There are so many people in Christianity today who want the byproducts of a relationship with God without the relationship. They want forgiveness without repentance. They want salvation without submission. They chase the signs and wonders without having a real relationship with God.
The truth will not be revealed until the storm comes. What is the storm? It starts with trials and ends at the Day of Judgment. The rain descended, verse 25, and the floods came, the winds blew, and burst against the house, the same thing is described exactly in verse 27. The first house did not fall that was founded on the rock. The second house fell, great was its fall.
How do you know if you don’t have a foundation? Here are a few things to consider. Do you find in your life an unwillingness to yield to Christ? Are you irritated by the commands of Scripture? Does it bother you that Christ and the Bible are restrictive? Do you not like the fact that there are sins that you would like to do and you restrain from doing them only because pressure is put upon you?
Do you come to church because you’re trying to make a good impression on someone? Are you trying to earn your way in? That’s a wrong motive. Only if you do what you do for the cause of Christ because you are compelled by your love for Christ and a desire for His glory, do you have a foundation.
1 John 2:15 says, “if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.” If you can’t let go of the evil world around you, if you do it all for self-glory, if you love pleasure more than you love forsaking pleasure for the glory of God, any of these marks would indicate that perhaps under your religious house is just sand, lots of sand.
But if you begin by trusting God and obeying Him even if you do not understand why, you will understand it after you are obedient, because only then God will show you, and by being obedient God can reveal to you His wisdom and His love for you. All throughout Scripture beginning with Abraham God begins with a command and only after obedience with a humble heart God then blesses those who trust in Him and gives them more than they ever expected. Let’s pray.