Monday, March 8, 2021

"Similarites" (Matt. 7:24-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2021 12:20 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  “Similarities”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matt. 7:24-27

 

            Message of the verses:  24 “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. 25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall."

 

            We have two different men building the same type of house, but we will look later at the difference between the two men as to where they built their house and what kind of foundation that they set their house onto, and that is what the difference will be, but that will come a bit later.

 

            We will be looking at this in a spiritual way, and the first thing we want to talk about is that both builders have heard the gospel.  “Everyone who hears these works of Mine” applies to both the “wise man” seen in verse 24 and then the “foolish man” as seen in verse 26.

 

            Next or second is that both of these men proceed to build a house after they have heard the way of salvation.  Now the “wise man” builds his house, which represents his life, on these “words of Mine.”  The implication is that the “foolish man,” although he “does not act upon” Christ’s “words” thinks that his house is secure simply because he has heard and acknowledged the “words.” He believes the life he lives is Christian, like so many people say that they are a Christian as perhaps opposed to a different kind of “religion,” but this person really believes he is a true believer because of perhaps going forward in church or signing a card, but the proof is in the growth that is seen in his life.  He is like the people we looked at in our previous SD’s who are saying that they did all kind of good works, but were not known by Jesus Christ.  The foolish man does not intentionally build a house that he thinks will fall because he thinks he is ok.  Both of the builders have confidence that their houses will stand; but one man’s confidence is in the Lord while the other man’s confidence is in himself.

 

            Next or thirdly is that both builders build their houses in the same general location as seen by their apparently being hit by the same storm.  In other words, the outward circumstances of their lives were essentially the same.  One had no advantage over the other, as they lived in the same town and possibly even attended the same church, and heard the same preaching, also went to the same Bible study, and fellowshipped with even the same friends.

 

            MacArthur writes “Fourth, the implication is that they buit the same kind of house.  Outwardly their houses were very much alike.  From all appearances the foolish man lived much in the same way as the wise man.  We might say they were both religious, theologically orthodox, moral, served in the church, supported it financially, and were responsible citizens of the community.  They seemed to believe alike and live alike.”

 

            As we can see there are many similarities in these two builders, but only the Lord knows the heart.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I trust  the Lord that I will, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God be able to accomplish the things that God has ordained for me to do from eternity past, showing others that I am truly a child of God through Jesus Christ my Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?

 

3/8/2021 12:44 PM

 

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