Matthew 7:24-29
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A WISE MAN AND A FOOLISH MAN?
“‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.’ And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
BACKGROUND
Jesus comes to the end of his sermon and caps it off with a teaching about obedience. It is the logical outflow of everything he’s said previously. He’s been instructing us on how to live and what to believe about himself. His words are not just nice platitudes to forget and move on. His words require obedience. Just as to obey the law meant belief in the law, so too, to obey the teachings of Jesus means to believe in Jesus.
Obedience is not grounds for justification before God. Salvation is by grace through faith. But obedience is a sign that we have come into relationship with Christ.
Love for Christ is measured by our obedience. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (John 14:15,21,23,24).
In the Old Testament, obedience was a part of the covenant. There were blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. In Exodus 19:5 the Lord says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples.” The blessing here is to belong to God. Notice the word God uses, “treasured.” In Christ you are God’s treasure. What is treasure? It is something we consider of highest value, so much so that we protect it above other things. You are God’s treasure, more valuable to him than all of his creation. On the flip side, do you treasure the Lord above all things?
Jesus modeled obedience. Paul says in Philippians 2:8, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” This was the ultimate obedience, to lose everything, even your life. This is the obedience that God calls us to. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
IF JESUS WAS DEITY, THEN WHY DID HE HAVE TO LEARN OBEDIENCE THROUGH SUFFERING?
This does not infer that Jesus went from disobedience to obedience. Rather, Jesus went from one expression of obedience to higher expressions of obedience. He grew to greater obedience until he arrived at the ultimate obedience, sacrificing his life for us under God’s plan for our salvation. This is our model. We should give God our full obedience even when it causes us suffering, just as Jesus did.
Have you noticed that nowhere in scripture does God ask us to do something or even say please. He does not ask, he commands. We do not do God favors. We hear and obey. In fact, hearing and obeying are tied together in scripture. There was no separate Hebrew word for obey in the Old Testament. Rather, the word used for obey literally means, “to hear.” In other words, to act on what is heard.
Adams Brown notes that “Disobedience is the supreme evil. By Adam’s act of disobedience sin entered the world (Romans 5:19). Israel’s troubles in the days of the old covenant were due to the same cause. Still worse is the case of those who disobey under the new covenant (Hebrews 2:2). Such shall receive dreadful punishment.” (1)
EXAMINATION
(V.24) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
Jesus brings his Sermon on the Mount to a close. “Everyone then,” means everything they’ve heard him teach up until now. He refers them not to the law, but to what he has been saying. Those who build their lives on Christ are wise builders who build on a solid rock of truth.
Notice first the emphasis on hearing the word. Hearing is tied to obedience. When one hears the word our response should be to obey the word. Obedience is wise and results in building something good on a firm foundation.
(V.25) “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Have you ever experienced a storm in life that tested your foundation? How did your faith hold up?
Jesus warns about hard times to come in the form of three things: rain, floods, and wind.
Severe storms happen in Israel, but it does not have hurricanes or large tornadoes. Smaller phenomenon like whirlwinds can take place. Modern Arab nomads, superstitious, regard whirlwinds as homes to demons.
Violent storms can tumble poorly constructed houses and destroy crops. But well built homes can weather them.
Jesus is using an interesting expression here. He talks about a house being built on a rock. Not a small rock, but something large. This is akin to a large concrete foundation.
Rocks, in the Bible, are associated with God, or with Christ.
HOW IS CHRIST LIKE A ROCK?
In referring to the exodus when Israel needed water, God gave them water from a rock. Paul refers to this in I Corinthians 10:4, “They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
In Psalm 18:2 it says, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
The point of this is to say that if we build our lives on Christ, we have a firm foundation that can stand the test of time. And God is using us to build a spiritual house. I Peter 2:4-5 says, “You come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.”
It is also interesting that a rock, or stone, is used in Daniel 2:34-35 to represent God’s kingdom. Remember Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a large statue made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. It says, “A stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces…the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
When we build a house on the rock of Christ we are building on principles of God’s kingdom.
(V.26) “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”
What are some ways people today might build their lives on sand instead of the rock?
Notice the contrast between the builders. Both are building homes. But only the wise man builds on a foundation of Christ. The contrast is that one obeys Christ’s word, and the other does not.
Theologian John Stott says, “The question is not whether we say nice, polite, orthodox, enthusiastic things to or about Jesus; nor whether we hear his words, listening, studying, pondering and memorizing until our minds are stuffed with his teaching; but whether we do what we say and do what we know.” (2)
(V.27) “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The three warning signs are repeated again, rain, floods, wind.
Jesus has been giving a series of contrasts through his message. Treasures in heaven, treasures on earth. Be anxious, don’t be anxious. The two roads. Good fruit vs bad fruit. The wise man who builds on the rock, the foolish man who builds on the sand. We all have the ultimate choice to make, to believe in Jesus or not to believe in Jesus. To obey him or to disobey him. The choice we make determines our ultimate destiny, the ultimate contrast, heaven or hell.
(V.28-29) “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT JESUS SPOKE WITH AUTHORITY?
In general there were five groups of people who held spiritual authority in Israel, the Priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Rabbis, and the Scribes. Matthew makes reference to the scribes. The order of the scribes was organized by Ezra. One of their functions was to copy the Old Testament scriptures. They were so exact in their work that they acquired a great deal of knowledge as a result of it. Thus, they were often called upon to read or speak in the synagogue.
Matthew, in making mention of the scribes is not berating them. Rather, he acknowledges their place in society and their impact on Israel’s religious life. But then he elevates Jesus to a greater height. The scribes copied and commented on the law. But Jesus is the author of the law. The scribes’ authority was derived. Jesus’ authority was original.
When the scribes or other Jewish leaders taught, they always made reference to the Old Testament scriptures as their authority. But Jesus taught differently. When he made reference to the scriptures he corrected the mistakes people made about them. But more importantly, he taught his own principles as if he had authority to give his own commands. And he did!
Here we see the reason for obedience: Jesus’ authority. To obey is to submit to a superior authority. Jesus is that superior authority. He is superior for three reasons:
- He is sinless. He has superior moral authority.
- He is the messiah. He holds all political authority.
- He is deity. He holds authority as the Creator.
Because of these things, Jesus has a right to command. He has the right to bless or the right to curse. Thus, Jesus concludes his sermon with a challenge. Be wise or be foolish. Obey him or disobey him.
INTERPRETATION
What is Jesus’ big idea in this passage? A life built on Christ will stand the test of time. No matter what comes our way, the rain, floods, and wind, a sure foundation of Christ will see us through. But a life without Christ, in the end, in eternity, only leads to ruin.
Consider what Paul said about what kind of life we build. In I Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul said, “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilledmaster builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
What kind of life are you building?
Everything the Jews understood about the Mosaic Law up until this time was based on rote observance and practice. Then Jesus came along and taught obedience to God from the heart. And he did it with his own authority that he received from the Father. Thus, Jesus had the authority to challenge his hearers based on his word at that time, not just in what was previously written.
In actuality, Jesus is the one who gave the law to Moses (Jude 1:5). He was the god of the Old Testament. So, it was only natural for Jesus to speak to the crowds using his own authority.
APPLICATION
How can we encourage one another to be doers of the Word and not just hearers?
Can you think of someonein the Bible that literally went through the kind of storm Jesus is talking about? How about Job? God was his rock. He was totally committed to the Lord and practicing spiritual things. But in a matter of days all his possessions were robbed, all his children were killed, his wealth erased, and his health decimated. Even his wife turned against him. Yet, what was Job’s response? “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15). Though Job questioned God about his treatment, he never accused God of wrongdoing. He maintained his faith and God rewarded him in the end.
Here are six points of application.
1. Build Your Life on Christ’s Teachings. The wise builder represents those who not only hear Jesus’ words but also put them into practice. We must anchor our lives in Christ’s teachings to withstand life’s challenges.
2. Obedience Brings Stability. Just as a house built on rock stands firm in storms, a life rooted in obedience to Jesus will endure trials. Trusting and applying God’s Word provides spiritual security.
3. Ignoring God’s Word Leads to Destruction. The foolish builder hears but does not act. This warns against superficial faith that lacks real transformation. Merely listening to sermons or reading Scripture without obedience leads to instability and spiritual downfall.
4. Trials Reveal Our Foundation. Storms in life, challenges, hardships, and temptations test our spiritual foundation. A life built on Christ remains steadfast, while a life built on worldly values collapses under pressure.
5. Jesus’ Authority Demands a Response. The passage ends by noting that Jesus taught with authority. We must recognize His divine authority and respond with obedience, not just admiration.
6. True Discipleship Requires Action. Following Jesus isn’t just about knowledge but about living out His commands daily. Faith without works is ineffective (James 2:26).
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- Brown, W. Adams. 1911–1912. “OBEDIENCE, OBEY.” In A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, edited by James Hastings, John A. Selbie, A. B. Davidson, S. R. Driver, and H. B. Swete, 3:581–82. New York; Edinburgh: Charles Scribner’s Sons; T. & T. Clark
- Stott, John R. W., and John R. W. Stott. 1985. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture. The Bible Speaks Today. Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
