LISTENING and DOING

Matthew 7:21-27 - Ezekiel 33:30-32



Jesus emphatically taught that carrying out God's will was a prerequisite of entering the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord wants us to get the message of "HEAR AND DO."

In the Greek – “hear” is translated: to give audience, understand.



*How we hear is important*

Quick to hear - to listen [James 1:19] - we should want to hear what God is saying to us -
in the book of Revelation it says "he who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says"

As we listen we learn how to live
-  living is building - every individual is building himself a house
- some build feebly erecting huts and shanties
-  others are more determined and will build mansions, palaces, and castles.
It is said, "Whatever a man builds, in that he must dwell."
We cannot get away from the results of our own life work.
These will become either a shelter or a ruin.

*How we listen can also show how teachable we are*

- This means how capable or willing we are to be taught

-The Psalmist wrote, "It is good for me to be afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes."
also "thy hands have made me and fashioned me, give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments." [Ps.119:71,73]

-Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." [Matt. 11:29]



*We cannot be just a hearer but must put it into action - in other words be obedient.*

Obedience to God's will is demanded by Christ and is an ongoing condition for salvation.
[This does not mean that we gain or deserve salvation by our own efforts or works.]

It is daily presenting ourselves to God as living sacrifices and putting sin to death in our lives.

 God helps us to be obedient by making this obedience that He demands available to us.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." [Philip.2:13]



*The solid foundation is obedience*

 A careless hearer of this parable might be ready to assume that Christ is the Foundation and that faith in Him is building on that Foundation:
while these truths are expressed elsewhere {1Cor.3: 11} they are not the lesson of this parable.

Jesus is clearly warning us against a superficial profession of allegiance to Himself. [vv.22-23]

We cannot depend on past obedience to His will, it must be continuous.
"He who looks continuously into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty,
and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener
who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his life of obedience."[James 1:25 Amplified]

All is useless if there is not obedience. "Faith with out works is dead." [James 2:17]

In other words, the only living faith in Christ is that which proves its existence by bringing forth fruit in active service.



We are called, as God's people, to be HEARERS and DOERS of the Word.

The only ones on the Rock are those who do what Christ teaches.


To comment on this go to our Forum