Faith Or Unbelief, Which Thing Rules Your Life?
Question: Let me know about the real meaning of building our life on the rock or on the sand which Jesus spoke about. Rock or sand, Jesus or the world, which foundation are you building your life on may be the right question to ask ourselves often to keep ourselves in the right path of heavenly life? Faith or unbelief, which thing rules our lives may be the bottomline of the above parable? What is your take on it.
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
Parables are heavenly messages for heavenly people, to make them understand in earthly context to grasp the voice of God speaking through it to prepare for heavenly life.
We know that one of the most important message, that Jesus spoke about is the need for believers to understand the Word of God and live their life on earth based on it.
So the following Parable in the Book of the Gospel of Matthew according to me is one of the most important parable to the end time believers to keep their lives free from the deception of the world, Self and Satan, "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.” 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matt 7:24-28).
In a related context, the writer of the Gospel of Luke reveals nearly the same message with a different prespective, "46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”" (Luke 7:46-49).
Let us get the context right first in both the above Parables. In the first parable of Matthew, it is not about salvation first of all, but it is all about what we do after salvation that will decide what kind of house we would have built for ourselves for eternity (Heb 10:39; 6:9-12), a prosperous house of our body to live on or having nothing to depend upon except have a faith that Jesus has saved us once of which we are not even sure because of living a purposeless life of vanity and pride, but having a temporal satisfaction that we have lived a prosperous earthly life on earth which has no value in relation to eternity (Heb 10:26-31).
First of all a unbeliever has no ability to hear the voice of Jesus, as he needs to get saved first in order to hear the voice of God. Jesus himself said, "27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28). This above verse conveys a clear message that the people who have the ability to hear the voice of Jesus are known personally by Him, they will follow Jesus by hearing His voice that comes through the teaching of His Word. These above people are those who have been given eternal life of frienship as a gift with both the Father and the Son of God Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
The unbelievers are those who use Christianity in a religious and pious way to enhance their life on earth with money, education, prosperity in society through rich and well respected social connections that comes through their belief to acquire things for themselves and be comfortable in their lives at present (John 12:6). Thus comparing the two different context of the same parable written by Matthew and Luke reveals a deep message of who is a believer in reality. The believer is not the one who gives lip service to a statement of belief by repeating it like a parrot or reading it to give ascent and then taking baptism like a swine without ever considering the fact that the heartfelt surrender of all desires, will and emotions need to be submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ, for him to give his new nature in to operation in their lives, and thus getting born from above by the power of God is a heart issue and not a mind over issue (2 Tim 3:5; Php 3:2; 2 Peter 2:12-17; Prov 26:11; 2 Peter 2:22).
There are a lot of people who call Jesus as 'Lord, Lord' on earth through their religious pious life, but very few hear what Jesus is saying to them in their lives and take effort to do them just as he has said in His Word and through His Spirit (Matt 4:1). Whoever hears the Word of God that Jesus Christ speaks and does them are those like who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock who built a house of their earthly lives on the strong eternal foundation of storing treasures in heaven and not on earth where thiefs break in and steal and moth do eat to make things useless (Heb 12:25-29; Matt 6:24, 19-21).
And when the "the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house [of their physical body (John 2:21)], and could not shake it [to keep the body in death and decay forever], for it was founded on the rock" of Jesus Christ who has promised to raise the sleeping body of believers with a glorious body (Rom 8:23). It is not a if "the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house" but when, as the conjunction word "and" points out that the flood of adversity that comes through trials, tribulations, diseases and sickness due to old age and accidents or through any other means is supposed to come at the appointed time, but a person who has believed the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior through his confession of mouth will have been saved from sin and death to have eternal life with Jesus Christ and God the Father after their death on earth (John 3:16; Rom 10:8-10, 13). In fact, Jesus called the death of believers as those who are asleep temporarily on earth, and therefore the house of the physical body of believers will soon be raised up in a glorious body at the time of Rapture or at His Second Coming (John 11:26; 11:11; 1 Thess 4:15-16; 1 Cor 15:50-58).
Those who are unsaved might go to the Church and may even proclaim themselves as Christians and even might go through the routine of all the traditions like baptism, communion and fellowship (2 Peter 2:13), but in relation to the eternal value for their earthly life and living which may even include good works for poors and widows (Jam 1:27), has no value in relation to eternity because they were never saved in their heart but thought to have been saved in their head (Matt 7:21-23; 1 Cor 13:1-3; John 15:5).
The unbelievers are those who have no hope to build a house for eternity, so they keep collecting treasures on earth which is the only hope they have to live and prosper as they see no eternity ahead (Matt 6:31-32). But those who think that they are saved but are never saved are those who will suffer greatly with their wrong belief of the mind and not the heart (Matt 23:15).
Those who live an earthly life as a believer and build their lives on doing work rather than works of faith in Christ Jesus by hearing his voice and living according to His guidance (Gal 2:19-20), will be the most affected for eternity as they are the one "26 ...who hears these sayings of [Jesus Christ], and does not do them, [they] 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.” (Matt 7:26-27). The house falls without glory for eternity because this person was saved by Jesus and His works done on the Cross, but the purpose of salvation from God is to do the works that has been preordained and prepared for them to do and walk in it after their salvation (Eph 2:10). The house which is built on the sand is that which becomes unfruitful for the Lord because of living a selfish, fleshly and satanic life (Matt 13:22). When at the end after they leave this earth and come again to be raptured with all the saints back on earth, then in the place of judgment of believers at the bema seat judgment of Jesus all their works will be tested through the fire of God's standard in which only the works done by the Lord through our lives on earth will be able to withstand the fire to get the reward for the Glory of God for eternity ahead, when the house falls without glory it means that the house of the body of believers itself will be saved because of what Jesus has done for them (1 Cor 12:11-17; 15:35-43, 44-49). Great is the fall of such houses because, those religious people who have got saved and yet lived by works like the elder Brother in the parable of the lost son will be so proud of what they do for the Lord, which will have no eternal value because the motive behind such work make it worthless and their works will be resisted by the Lord (Jam 4:6; Luke 15:25-32).
In short, a man who builds a house for himself on earth by their works will find it to have fallen greatly because it will be for themselves they have built. A man who builds his life on the rock of Jesus Christ by works of faith is the one who hears the voice of Jesus through reading the Bible and praying to Him, and does it daily day in and day out, so that when they are raised up in rapture, they will withstand the day of fire of judgment as their motives for which the works were done was for God and not for themselves or for other men (Gal 1:10). Praise the Lord!
So the bottom line of this parable is that, every believer must learn to hear the voice of Jesus daily and walk according to the direction He gives to each one individually after they are saved so that they would be rewarded for eternity ahead. Or else their life may be lived in a religious way of pomp and fanfare, but it will be of no eternal value to the house of their body which when raised up in rapture can stand on it own only when someone's works will withstand through the fire of the Bema Judgment of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
In the context of the parable of Matthew, it was written for the believers and deals mainly with eternal reward of a glorious body which will withstand any storms of temporal life to enter in to eternity with it to have it forever. In the context of the parable of Luke, it was written for the religious people who think they are saved but are not and also for the believers to hear the voice of Jesus and walk according to it. Every unbeliever must realize his folly to get saved as soon as possible (2 Cor 13:5), and every believer must stop deceiving themselves from just being a hearer, to become a doer of the Word of God that Jesus speaks day in and day out in their lives so that they could be eternally rewarded (Jam 1:19-27). Every ones work must be know by himself and others to have the outward evidence of their faith within their heart (Jam 2:22, 24). This is true faith that will be rewarded by the Lord for eternity ahead!
Much Blessings...
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
Parables are heavenly messages for heavenly people, to make them understand in earthly context to grasp the voice of God speaking through it to prepare for heavenly life.
We know that one of the most important message, that Jesus spoke about is the need for believers to understand the Word of God and live their life on earth based on it.
In a related context, the writer of the Gospel of Luke reveals nearly the same message with a different prespective, "46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”" (Luke 7:46-49).
Let us get the context right first in both the above Parables. In the first parable of Matthew, it is not about salvation first of all, but it is all about what we do after salvation that will decide what kind of house we would have built for ourselves for eternity (Heb 10:39; 6:9-12), a prosperous house of our body to live on or having nothing to depend upon except have a faith that Jesus has saved us once of which we are not even sure because of living a purposeless life of vanity and pride, but having a temporal satisfaction that we have lived a prosperous earthly life on earth which has no value in relation to eternity (Heb 10:26-31).
First of all a unbeliever has no ability to hear the voice of Jesus, as he needs to get saved first in order to hear the voice of God. Jesus himself said, "27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28). This above verse conveys a clear message that the people who have the ability to hear the voice of Jesus are known personally by Him, they will follow Jesus by hearing His voice that comes through the teaching of His Word. These above people are those who have been given eternal life of frienship as a gift with both the Father and the Son of God Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
There are a lot of people who call Jesus as 'Lord, Lord' on earth through their religious pious life, but very few hear what Jesus is saying to them in their lives and take effort to do them just as he has said in His Word and through His Spirit (Matt 4:1). Whoever hears the Word of God that Jesus Christ speaks and does them are those like who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock who built a house of their earthly lives on the strong eternal foundation of storing treasures in heaven and not on earth where thiefs break in and steal and moth do eat to make things useless (Heb 12:25-29; Matt 6:24, 19-21).
And when the "the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house [of their physical body (John 2:21)], and could not shake it [to keep the body in death and decay forever], for it was founded on the rock" of Jesus Christ who has promised to raise the sleeping body of believers with a glorious body (Rom 8:23). It is not a if "the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house" but when, as the conjunction word "and" points out that the flood of adversity that comes through trials, tribulations, diseases and sickness due to old age and accidents or through any other means is supposed to come at the appointed time, but a person who has believed the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior through his confession of mouth will have been saved from sin and death to have eternal life with Jesus Christ and God the Father after their death on earth (John 3:16; Rom 10:8-10, 13). In fact, Jesus called the death of believers as those who are asleep temporarily on earth, and therefore the house of the physical body of believers will soon be raised up in a glorious body at the time of Rapture or at His Second Coming (John 11:26; 11:11; 1 Thess 4:15-16; 1 Cor 15:50-58).
Those who are unsaved might go to the Church and may even proclaim themselves as Christians and even might go through the routine of all the traditions like baptism, communion and fellowship (2 Peter 2:13), but in relation to the eternal value for their earthly life and living which may even include good works for poors and widows (Jam 1:27), has no value in relation to eternity because they were never saved in their heart but thought to have been saved in their head (Matt 7:21-23; 1 Cor 13:1-3; John 15:5).
The unbelievers are those who have no hope to build a house for eternity, so they keep collecting treasures on earth which is the only hope they have to live and prosper as they see no eternity ahead (Matt 6:31-32). But those who think that they are saved but are never saved are those who will suffer greatly with their wrong belief of the mind and not the heart (Matt 23:15).
In short, a man who builds a house for himself on earth by their works will find it to have fallen greatly because it will be for themselves they have built. A man who builds his life on the rock of Jesus Christ by works of faith is the one who hears the voice of Jesus through reading the Bible and praying to Him, and does it daily day in and day out, so that when they are raised up in rapture, they will withstand the day of fire of judgment as their motives for which the works were done was for God and not for themselves or for other men (Gal 1:10). Praise the Lord!
So the bottom line of this parable is that, every believer must learn to hear the voice of Jesus daily and walk according to the direction He gives to each one individually after they are saved so that they would be rewarded for eternity ahead. Or else their life may be lived in a religious way of pomp and fanfare, but it will be of no eternal value to the house of their body which when raised up in rapture can stand on it own only when someone's works will withstand through the fire of the Bema Judgment of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
In the context of the parable of Matthew, it was written for the believers and deals mainly with eternal reward of a glorious body which will withstand any storms of temporal life to enter in to eternity with it to have it forever. In the context of the parable of Luke, it was written for the religious people who think they are saved but are not and also for the believers to hear the voice of Jesus and walk according to it. Every unbeliever must realize his folly to get saved as soon as possible (2 Cor 13:5), and every believer must stop deceiving themselves from just being a hearer, to become a doer of the Word of God that Jesus speaks day in and day out in their lives so that they could be eternally rewarded (Jam 1:19-27). Every ones work must be know by himself and others to have the outward evidence of their faith within their heart (Jam 2:22, 24). This is true faith that will be rewarded by the Lord for eternity ahead!
Much Blessings...
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