May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter six, and we'll read the last three
verses, 47, 48, and 49. The Gospel of Luke, chapter six,
and reading the last three verses. Whosoever cometh to me and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
He is like a man which built a house and digged deep, and
laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the
stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it,
for it was founded upon a rock. He that heareth and doeth not
is like a man that, without a foundation, built an house upon the earth,
against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately
it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. These are the concluding words
of the Lord Jesus when he preached that wonderful sermon on the
plain as it speaks to. He came down from the mountain
and then spoke to his disciples and the vast multitude which
had gathered. And I'm sure we are familiar
with these words and especially this illustration of the person
that built his house upon the rock and the other who built
his house upon the earth. But I've often, I've thought
recently, and more particularly I think yesterday really, the
words that the Lord speaks and says, whosoever. Well we're familiar
with that invitation and it's a good invitation. We're thankful
there are those whosoever's in the Word of God, but here we
have Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth
them, I will show you to whom he is like." So there's a very
clear statement here that such blessing refers to those who
not only hear, but do them. You see, many people hear the
truth of the Word of God. but there are far less who actually
do them. And there are many words of gracious
instruction that the Lord Jesus gives us, especially in his sermons
and in those things that he speaks to the people. And here we have
this very conclusive statement which says to us that if we hear
the sayings and do them, And the contrary, of course, in the
49th verse is, but he that heareth and doeth not. And so there's
a very definite position here that it's not a question of just
hearing. You see, hearing, we might say,
doesn't have any consequence to us really insofar that we
can hear. and we can listen and we can
accept the truth of the words and go away and think, well,
that's very wonderful and that's very lovely and I'm pleased with
that. Well, the Word of God doesn't
stop there. And it does speak to us very
clearly that we are to be amongst those who follow out and do the
things that we read, do the things which we hear. and not to be
amongst those who just hear and do not. And the tragic thing
is, there are many, many Christians today who just fall into that
category. They hear and they are not doers
of the Word of God. And that's a very solemn thought,
isn't it? And I believe how often we do
read the Word of God, and we read it perhaps with a a jaundiced
mind. We don't actually have an open
heart, an open mind to truly receive the Word of God as it
is. The Word of God is true and we
are not to trifle with it and we're not to ignore it. However
young we are, however old we are, it's a wonderful thing that
we do have the Word of God to be able to read. It's a wonderful
thing that the Word of God does instruct us and the Word of God
does direct us in what we should say and how we should act and
how we should think. All these things are described
to us in detail and we have to confess. I hope we do and admit
the Word of God is very comprehensive. It doesn't leave us, as it were,
hanging. It gives us the complete picture. And so here we have these statements
before us today. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. And then the Lord, you see, he
gives this wonderful and simple illustration. But it is an illustration
for us to note and to understand what the Lord is speaking to
those who do his word, who do his commands. Let us not go away
this morning and think, well, I think I'm exempt. No one is
exempt. No one. The Word of God speaks. It's a wonderful thing if you
and I are a true Christian and not just a professing Christian. There are many people who just
profess. They're hearers and that's where
it stops. They're not doers. What a blessing
if God gives you and me grace to be a doer of the Word and
not a hearer only. It is very concise, these statements,
and very true and very important. And so if we are to be amongst
those who are doers, remember this only applies to those who
are doers, then we have the wonderful illustration here of the building
which has a good foundation and which is founded upon a rock. Now, I'm sure you know that this
is a very similar account as to that which is recorded in
Matthew, when the Lord spoke the Sermon on the Mount, and
the last verse is in the seventh chapter of Matthew. But there
are some small differences. And of course, in this account,
the Lord speaks about it being the man that does not do it,
builds it on the earth, whereas in the Matthew account, it's
on the sand. And here, in this 48th verse,
It speaks about this man who is a doer, who built his house
and digged deep. And that surely illustrates to
us that it wasn't just an easy operation. He needed to get down
to something which was really solid, really substantial, something
which could be relied upon. And of course, in building today,
that's precisely what is needed, to dig down to something which
is strong and firm and will sustain the weight of the building. And
so here we have this illustration that the man who built this house,
the one who was a doer, and I do want you to not forget that,
this only applies to those who are doers, not just to those
who are hearers. Everybody's a hearer. Everybody
has a profession, but doesn't necessarily have a possession,
because they pick and choose what they want to do and what
they don't want to do. Well, here is this position here, that
this illustration tells us about this man who digged deep. And we can be sure of this, that
if you are going to dig deep, it's not just an easy operation. You can imagine, The other who
don't do things, they just build upon the earth. There's no labour,
there's no cost, it's an easy operation, but it's not satisfactory. Whereas one who is a doer desires
to do that which will really bring them down to the great
blessing of a good foundation. And so there is this deep digging. He is like a man which built
a house and digged deep." Well, we are therefore encouraged to
believe that if we are a true believer, a doer of the Word,
then we should not expect an easy dig. We should not expect
to be able to just go, well, I've done that. It may need much
effort and much time perhaps to actually get down to a good
and decent foundation. And not to stop until we do that. There may be opposition. In natural
digging sometimes, it's not easy to dig through soil to get down
to a good foundation. But you know there's a perseverance
which is required. And there is the situation which
we are to turn away from just giving up and thinking, well,
I'm not going to dig any further. It's no use. In actual fact,
it's just too hard work. I'm going to leave it and just
put a foundation as it is. No. The Word of God here is very
clear in a spiritual sense. We're not to stop until we get
down to that good rock bottom. And what is that rock bottom? Well, we know that the rock is
none less than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are not to stop
short of knowing that we have reached that great and blessed
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. You may think,
well, I keep on asking, I keep on struggling, and I can't seem
to get any confirmation that the Lord is My Saviour. Well, carry on digging. Carry
on digging. Don't give up. Don't stop. Because the reward is wonderful. And the reward is such that you
will find then that there is that great and solid foundation
which will not move, which will be good to build upon. My friends,
anything less, anything less will not be satisfactory. You
and I must get down to that rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must
have that personal knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is
our Saviour. Anything less than this will
not take us home to glory. Do not be satisfied with that
which is false, that which is appealing to the flesh. Just
building on the earth, just as a hearer, that's easy isn't it? How many people today in our
churches are like that? Just building on the earth. They
look alright, the building looks alright, looks fine, And they're
pleased with it, they're satisfied with it, they go on their way,
recognising that other people think they're a good building.
But in fact, there's a great fallacy, there's a great fault. They haven't been a doer, they've
just been a hearer. You see, it's searching, isn't
it, these things are, to us all. But how important it is that
we do find ourselves as a doer obeying the words of God and
as we're obeying the words of God then to find that we do have
to dig and we do have to carry on digging and we do have to
dig deep until we get down to that solid rock and the wonderful
knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour. We should
not therefore think from this parable here, that there is any
other way. We should not think that we can
just be a hearer and be alright at the end. We should not think
that we can get away without being a doer of the Word. So
many people today follow that way, don't They think, well,
so-and-so has done this and so-and-so has done that. My friends, we're
not to follow man. We're to follow the blessed words
of the Saviour. And remember, our eternal life
depends upon such things. We should not look around and
say, well, so-and-so does that and so-and-so doesn't do that.
It's irrelevant. You and I stand before a holy
God, a holy God who in his great love and mercy
has given us his word and has described to us in great
detail what you and I should be doing as a true follower of
the Lord Jesus Christ. and to recognise that true religion
is costly. True religion demands this deep
digging. But there is a wonderful reward,
because we should get down to this solid foundation, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we can then realise that
on Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All of the ground is sinking
sand. Well, this morning, let us all
look into our hearts and see whether we are standing upon
that rock, Christ Jesus. And whether we have been a doer
of the word and not a hearer only. These words are so clear,
aren't they? They're so powerful. And yet, you see, how easily
we're turned away from them. How easily we're just like Eve. We listen to the temptation of
the devil. Eve thought it was rather pleasant
to go that way. Yes, how easily the devil today
turns us away from the great truth of God's word. He is like a man which built
a house and dig deep. Now you see, if we've got down
to this good foundation, this good bottom, the Lord Jesus Christ,
then you see, we can begin to build and we can begin to build
the foundation. But there's no real building
until we get down to the bottom, till we get down to the rock,
till we get down to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no real
building. What a mercy then if the Spirit
of God directs us to this great important consideration. to know
that we are founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a very good illustration
of building when the Lord spoke to Moses with the tabernacle
and then of course to Solomon when the temple was built. And
when the temple was built, the foundation wasn't just some haphazard
situation. No, they got down to a good,
the bottom, to be able to commence building. And then the foundation
was built of very carefully prepared blocks of rock and blocks of
stone. And they weren't just thrown
in haphazardly. And they were very large blocks.
And they would have taken a long time to have worked out and worked
on, and then to have transported them to the site of the temple,
and then to put them in position to be the foundation. Well, we can think of that as
a wonderful illustration in the Word of God to our foundation. And our foundation can be likened
to the great and glorious doctrines of the Word of God. We will need
to be founded upon Christ for these doctrines to mean anything
to us. You can think of them as a theory,
but as a theory without practice is not really that which the
Word of God directs us in. Because theory without practice
will fail. But a theory with practice indeed
will be successful. So as we think of that foundation
then, as the Lord may have given us that grace, and it's a much
wonderful blessing to receive that grace of God, to continue
digging until we get down to this great and glorious rock,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to build upon that, to build
upon Christ, and to be led then into the truth as it is in Jesus.
And the foundation then will be a good one, won't it? Because
the great truths of Scripture will then be made very real to
us. And we will walk up and down
in them. And we'll be thankful for them.
And we'll recognise the great truth it has to us. You know,
often perhaps we might cavil and not like to Think of the
great and glorious doctrine of election where the Lord quite
clearly has chosen us and what a blessing it will be, a foundation
truth to us when we realise that because of that the Lord gave
us grace to dig deep and to be a doer of the word. Yes, it's
because of his grace to us, it's because of his elect in love,
that so possessed us that we realised what the Saviour had
done for us. And we realised that it wasn't
what we'd done, it was His great and glorious love toward us,
in choosing us. As He said in the 15th of John,
you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you. You should go and bring forth
fruit, and that your fruit shall remain. Now, I don't believe
there's any real fruit, you see, unless we are a true believer,
unless we are built upon this good rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because then, you see, there
will be that fruit which will come forth, which will be for
the honor and glory of God, and we shall thank him. We shall
praise him. that He did look upon us, that
we have been called out of nature's darkness into the glorious light
of the everlasting Gospel, that our names were written in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the earth, and
we shall glory in this great and glorious truth. And my friends,
it is a truth, and it is part of that wonderful foundation.
And it is strengthening to the Church of God. We don't want
to go through our life with no knowledge that the Lord has chosen
us. The people of God in the Word
of God had that clear testimony that the Lord had chosen them.
You think of the patriarchs, you think of Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, you think of Joseph, think of Moses, Joshua, Caleb. It's a whole line, aren't there? And they were sure the Lord had
called them. They were sure that the Lord
had chosen them. They had the evidence of it in their lives. And we should not therefore think,
well, you know, I don't think these things are important. These
things are important. Because what does it do? It brings
honour and glory to God. There is no honour and glory
to God in doubting our salvation. There is honour and glory to
God when we thank him for his love, for his grace and for his
mercy. When we do stand on the same ground that John
Newton stood on, when he said amazing grace. Yes, how sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. And that's a good foundation. That's a good blessing, isn't
it? That's a good start, isn't it? To know that the Spirit of
God has called us and that we were chosen by our God. The Word of God from Genesis
to Revelation clearly sets forth the wonderful doctrine of election. My friends, you and I need to
know that we are amongst those whom God has chosen. We don't
want to just wander on thinking, well, I hope it will be alright
in the end. When the Spirit of God works
in our soul, we will want to know. And that's why we will
be found digging deep. dig a spade full and then give
up. There will be this concern to know that we are chosen of
God and that we are then to be found a doer of the word and
not a hearer only. Well, to think of the wonderful
doctrine of election, to think that we are therefore chosen
in Christ. to realise that our eternal state
is secure. There will be temptations, of
course. The devil is always concerned to bring about that deceit so
that we will not believe the truth of God. When it's a blessing,
when the Spirit of God moves our hearts, so that we can then,
by his grace, resist the devil. We can point to the great truth
of scripture. We can direct him to those things
which the Lord has said. These are foundation truths. They are great and blessed doctrines. And not only, of course, our
election, because if we are those who have been chosen, we are
those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ has laid down his life. Yes, he's died that we might
live. And you see, he is his, therefore
is that one who has justified us, made us just. And of ourselves, we're not just,
are we? We're not righteous, we're unrighteous. But to be found with this great
and glorious foundation stone of justification. We have the Word of God which
explains it to us and we have that illustration of course of
Abraham who was justified by the works that he did. He wasn't justified by doing
nothing. He was justified by the works that he did. He received
the grace to do those works and of course he was told to go and
offer up His only son Isaac. He followed the word of the Lord. He heard the word of the Lord. He was a doer of the word of
the Lord. What a mercy, if you and I are
found like that. What did he possess? He possessed living faith. God
gave him faith. What a great stone that is. the stone of faith, the foundation
of faith. My friends, we all need that.
We all need that as our foundation. And it has to be based on the
Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, God-given faith, not something
that you and I worked out, possessed ourselves, but it was the outworking
of the great and glorious gift of God toward us. You think of
God's servant Moses. Did he just sit still and do
nothing? He heard the word of God. Initially he didn't feel he was
competent. Well that's fine. But you see
he didn't stop, he didn't stay where he was. in the wilderness
with looking after the flocks, the Lord spoke to him. And what
was he then? A doer of the word. And what was he made willing
to do? He was willing to forsake everything, wasn't he? Just as
the Apostle Paul was, willing to forsake everything. It's a
great and glorious gift of the grace of God. And it's a mercy
when the Lord gives us that grace with this wonderful foundation
of faith to believe in the Word of God that we are willing to
forsake all. We are willing to not worry about
the cost, to forget, cast it aside, what the cost will be. And there will be a cost. Be
sure of that. But as you and I are given that
grace to align our little lives with the cost of our salvation
that the Lord Jesus Christ endured, that will give a right view. And I believe as we are led and
directed to the cost of our salvation, to see what the Lord Jesus Christ
did on our behalf, Surely that will convince us of the need
to seek for grace, to be a doer of the word and not a hearer
only. We have a wonderful example in
the Saviour, don't we? He was a doer, wasn't he? He
did his Father's will. And what a cost that was. We have that as our example.
Don't worry about other people. Think of the Saviour. Think of
what He did. Think of the cost it was. He
did His Father's will. He was willing to do His Father's
will. We often speak of the words of
the Saviour in Gethsemane, when He was in that agony, knowing
what was before Him. But my friends, there'll be nothing
like that really in our lives apart perhaps from there are
those today who are of course martyrs. Yes, you see, they are
a doer of the word, aren't they? Yes, they are willing to give
their life. Like the Lord Jesus Christ, when
he came and prayed to his Father and said, nevertheless not my
will, but thine be done. It really comes down to that,
doesn't it? Are you and I willing to give our life? Well, generally
speaking, the Lord doesn't require that. But he does require that
we do follow his word, that we are a doer of his word, and that
we are not just amongst those who are hearers only. well to be found building then
on this foundation of Christ, the great truths of the gospel. As we think of what the Lord
Jesus Christ was, and we think of his great act of salvation,
and we think that now he is a wonderful saviour and a glorious high priest
in glory, now this will be a precious doctrine to us. My friends, you
won't appreciate it unless you're on that rock Christ Jesus. Because
Christ will not mean anything to you. But you see, if you're
on that rock Christ Jesus, then you see, there will be that building
of that foundation. And one of those wonderful foundations
is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest. So that when
we pray to God, God the Father, we pray through the merits of
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that'll be a precious doctrine,
the high priesthood of Christ, and you'll be able to follow
it through in the Old Testament and observe how it was set forth
so very clearly by Moses in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle,
and then of course in the temple. What a great truth this is. How
strengthening to our faith. And what a foundation it will
be. And laid the foundations, or foundation on a rock. The foundation of the doctrines
of Christ. Now, the need for this is that
there will be times of much opposition. And it's very clear here when
the Lord says, and when the flood arose, The stream beat vehemently
upon that house and could not shake it. Don't expect, therefore,
to find that you're not tempted. Don't expect to think you'll
have an easy run without any opposition, because here the
illustration is quite clear, isn't it? The floods arose and
the stream wasn't just a little stream passing by. It beat vehemently. upon that house, the devil will
try to destroy our spiritual building. But if we're founded
on the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, that rock will stand firm. Bless
God for that. And therefore, as we're told
here, could not shake it. Could not shake it. We're firm
because we're on Christ. that solid rock, how necessary
it is then that our religion is founded upon Christ. So that
when these storms of life come, this opposition, don't think
there's going to be some escape route. The Lord tells us, doesn't
he, very clearly, through much tribulation, we shall enter the
kingdom. be a good cheer, I have overcome
the world. That's a direct statement to
direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore, you see, when we
come into these times of severe trial, severe temptation, we
can rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ to support us in our hour
of need. But let us not think that we
should escape these temptations. Let's not think we should escape
the battle that we'll have with the evil heart of unbelief. The
devil must be standing at our elbow, endeavoring to turn us
aside from the things of God. Well, my friends, if you and
I are on this rock, he won't be able to. But if we're not,
if we're just a hearer, just a hearer and not a doer, then
the Lord tells us what will happen. Like a man that without a foundation
built a house upon the earth. Naturally we can realise that's
a very foolish thing to do, isn't it? In the account of our In
Matthew, we are told, the wise man built his house upon the
rock. Here we have the foolish man
building his house upon the earth. Well, that was easy, wasn't it?
Easy to do, but what was the outcome? Against which the stream
did beat vehemently. And immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was
great. We don't want to have a religion
like that, do we? Which is just an outward edifice that looks
very pleasant. People think, well, you're a
wonderful Christian. And yet all it is is just a shell.
There's nothing inside. There's no personal knowledge
of Christ. There's no wonderful rejoicing
in the doctrines of God, the doctrines of Christ. There's
just a shell. And there will be that time then
when we come down, the day of our death, when there will be
those storms. We don't want our religion just
to fall down, vanish. Nothing left. Ruin. The ruin
of that house was great. It's a very striking statement,
isn't it? It's a very striking parable
really, isn't it? And it's a very simple parable
for all of us to understand. And yet, how often we pass it
by. We somehow think. It doesn't
have a reference to us. Let us remember that the 48th
and 49th verses are prefaced with this wonderful statement,
whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, we have got to hear
them and we are to do them. I will show you to whom is like. On the other hand, he that heareth
and doeth not, the Lord showed who they were like. And all of
us here today, we fall into one of those two categories. The
word of God from Genesis to Revelation is a separating word, and it
separates between the precious and the vile, and it separates
between God's children and those who are hypocrites in Zion. and
those who are unbelievers. My friends, how important it
is for you and me today that God may come and give us wonderful
grace, strength, desire, ability to hear his word and be amongst
those who are hearing and doing. Amen.