THE BIBLE MADE SIMPLE Volume 2

THE BIBLE MADE SIMPLE
Volume 2

William T. Barrett

Lesson 10

1. Opening Prayer

2. The Parable of Matt.7:24-27

The Two Men that built Houses.

3. All the sayings of Christ have a deeper significance than appears on the surface.

4. Closing Prayer

The Parable of : The Two Men that built Houses

Matthew 7:24-27

24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

245 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it”.

Paraphrase

The one who hears what Jesus says and does it, is a wise man! He is like a man that built his house upon a rock.

The one who hears what Jesus says and does not do it, is a foolish man!

He is like a man that built his house on sand. When the rain, wind, and floods beat upon the two houses, only the one built upon the rock remained.

The house built upon sand was destroyed.

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Comments:

Nothing is said in the parable about the type of house being built. One house could have been a mansion on the sand by the seashore and the other house a log cabin on a rock in the mountains. Nothing is said about the materials that the houses were built out of. One house may have been built with marble stones and gold and silver, while the other house may have been built from wood and iron. There are several things that the parable does tell us. It tells us what the men building the houses were like!

One man was a wise man. The other man was foolish.

The parable also tells us that there was a difference between the foundations of the two houses. The wise man had chosen to build his house upon a rock for his foundation. The foolish man had chosen to build his house upon sand for his foundation. No one forced either man to build in a certain way. Each man chose the foundation for his house.

The whole parable seems to center around the fact that choosing the right foundation is what made one man wise and one man foolish.

Jesus compares this choice to being like two men who listened to what He said.

One man listened and did what Jesus said to do. The other man listened and did not do what Jesus said to do.

Thus, the primary teaching of this parable is very clear.

You will Do what Jesus says if you are wise!!

The second teaching of this parable is also clear. You must choose the right foundation to build on or all the rest of your efforts will be in vain!!!

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Let’s compare our two choices for “foundations”

1. ROCK or 2. SAND

Summarizing

The differences between these two foundation materials:

PHYSICAL ROCK PHYSICAL SAND

Immovable.	Easily moved.
Changeless with respect to time	Changes constantly.
Anything attached to it is secure and can’t be moved.	Anything attached to it is unsecure and can be easily moved.
It will support anything that stands upon it and will not let it sink.	It will not support anything that stands upon it but will allow it to sink.
The Physical elements of rain, wind, floods will not affect it.	The Physical elements of rain, wind, floods will affect it.

SPIRITUAL ROCK SPIRITUAL SAND

Spiritually Immovable.	Spiritually moved easily.
Spiritually Changeless	Spiritually changes constantly.
Anything attached is Spiritually secure.	Anything attached is Spiritually unsecure.
Spiritually support for anything that stands upon it.	No Spiritually support for anything that stands upon it.
Spiritual elements will not affect it.	Spiritual elements will affect it.

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Now we need to discover what the Bible says that “rock” and “sand” represent Spiritually, so that we will understand why these two “foundation” materials are so important!

Rock = Christ (God)

Sand = people (man)

Thus, the two possible “foundations” upon which we can build are either:

1. Rock God’s Words

2. Sand man’s words

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Let’s look again at the “differences” between “rock” and “sand”

Spiritual “ROCK” CHRIST Spiritual “SAND” MAN

God is Immovable.	Man is easily moved.
God is Changeless	Man changes constantly.
Anyone “attached” to God is Spiritually secure.	Anyone “attached” to man is Spiritually unsecure.
God will “support” anyone who stands or depends upon Him and He will not let them “sink” Spiritually.	Man cannot “support” anyone who “stands” or depends upon him and anyone who does depend upon man will “sink” Spiritually.
God is not affected by the Spiritual “Elements” of Satan and is never deceived.	Man is affected by the Spiritual “Elements” and is easily deceived.

These “differences” clearly show us the advantage of “building on Rock” (God) for a “foundation” instead of “building on sand” (man).

Now we know why Christ gave this parable right after the parable of the Two Ways (broad and narrow), and after telling us to beware of false teachers and to “test their fruits”.

Now, He has once again warned us not to trust in the words of men, but rather to trust in the Words of God!

Jer.17:5,7 “..Cursed be the man that trusteth in man…Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord…”.

So, the “foundation” of our beliefs MUST be based on the Words of God instead of the words of men or we are foolish and cursed.

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“Christ is the truth. His words are truth, and they have a greater value and a deeper significance, than appears on the surface. All the sayings of Christ have a value beyond their unpretending appearance.

Minds that are quickened by the Holy Spirit will discern the value of these sayings. They will discern the precious gems of truth though they may be buried treasure.

How needful for all who are workers in the cause of God to ponder these things, that they may guard against self-sufficiency.

If men are self-sufficient, the Lord leaves them to their own human wisdom. We are not to trust in self”.

“There are rich treasures for us in the mine of God’s Word, and we must dig deep for the precious jewels of truth.

The rubbish of human opinion must be swept aside, that the clear jewels of truth may be brought to light; for we want the truth on every point, that we may be sanctified through the truth”.

William T. Barrett

Bible Made Simple Ministry

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