Build Your Life on the Rock: Obey God

Matthew 7 puts a hard line between saying “Lord, Lord” and doing the will of the Father. Christ does not treat prophecy, casting out devils, or wonderful works as a substitute for knowing Him. The rock and the sand show that hearing the word is not the same thing as applying the word. The wise man hears and does, and the foolish man hears and does not.

God speaks, nudges, encourages, and directs, but God does not make puppets. Jonah hears a clear word from God to go to Nineveh, and Jonah rises up to go the other way. That moment shows what happens when a person gets a word from God and then decides whether or not to listen. God does not give a negotiation, He gives a direction.

The pile of blocks gives a picture of what a life looks like when Christ first comes in. Christ gives a firm foundation, but compromise starts putting kinks in the wall. Gossip, shacking up, pride, hidden lies, lust, greed, and little things that look “not too bad” make the wall unstable. The foundation can be solid, but the wall gets crooked when the Holy Spirit is ignored.

The Holy Spirit is the comforter and guide, like the one holding the flashlight in the dark. When the Holy Spirit says go left and a person goes right, the guide is no longer being followed. The trouble is not that God failed to speak, but that the voice was ignored when it said, “No. Don’t do that.” A life can still look like a wall, but it cannot carry weight when the wrong things are built into it.

Paul shows the other side. Saul is on the road to hurt the church, but Christ stops him and asks, “Why persecutest thou me?” Paul answers with the question every heart ought to ask: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Paul goes where Christ tells him to go, even blind, even to the people who are scared of him, and his wall gets built straight.

Nehemiah’s wall shows that broken things have to come down before anything solid can stand. Repentance removes obstacles, confession ends the lie, and obedience makes the path solid again. Second Peter gives the indicator: faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. Bad fruit is not something to excuse; it is an indicator that something is wrong and needs to be corrected before the whole wall falls.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Hearing is not the same as doing Matthew 7 draws the line at application, not religious sound. “Lord, Lord” can come from a mouth that never surrendered its will. The word only becomes a rock under a life when it is obeyed, not when it is admired, memorized, or talked about. [40:57]
• 2. Compromise bends the whole wall The little block in the wrong place may look small, but the whole wall starts leaning because of it. Sin rarely asks for everything at first; it asks for one protected corner, one hidden thing, one excuse that sounds reasonable. A person may still look put together, but the weight of life will show what was built crooked. [51:56]
• 3. The Spirit guides, not forces The Holy Spirit does not drag a person down the right road like a puppet. The Spirit speaks, warns, and shines the flashlight, but disobedience chooses the dark path and then wonders why the guide seems far away. Ignoring that still small voice is not a small matter, because relationship gets thin where obedience keeps getting refused. [52:51]
• 4. Repentance means removing the obstacle A shim may prop up a crooked wall for a moment, but it does not fix what made the wall crooked. Real help begins when the wrong thing is taken out, confessed, and brought back under God’s hand. Repentance is not just feeling bad about instability; repentance tears down what was built wrong and starts again on what is solid. [54:59]
• 5. Fruit tells the truth plainly The fruits of the Spirit act like an indicator light on the dashboard of the soul. Meanness, pride, hidden anger, and uncontrolled speech do not need to be dressed up as personality; they reveal that something inside needs checking. Bad fruit is mercy sounding an alarm before the wall comes down.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [40:30] - Worship Ends and Matthew 7 Begins
• [42:25] - Prayer to Be Doers of the Word
• [43:28] - Application and Free Will
• [44:08] - Jonah Hears God and Runs
• [46:55] - Blocks, Rubble, and Foundation
• [50:08] - Knowledge Without Relationship
• [52:20] - Following the Holy Spirit’s Flashlight
• [56:41] - Paul Meets Jesus on the Road
• [59:20] - Obedience When It Is Hard
• [63:25] - Nehemiah Rebuilds the Broken Wall
• [65:20] - Repentance Removes the Obstacles
• [68:10] - Confession Ends the Lie
• [73:55] - Second Peter and the Fruit Indicator
• [78:13] - Altar Call to Make It Right

Bible Reading

Matthew 7:21-27
“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' 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 its fall.” [40:57]

Jonah 1:1-3
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.' But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.” [44:08]

Acts 9:3-6
“Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' And he said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.'” [56:41]

2 Peter 1:5-8
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [01:13:55]

Observation questions

1. In Matthew 7, what is the difference between the wise man and the foolish man, and what happens to each house when the storm comes? [40:57]
2. In Jonah 1:1-3, what specific direction did God give Jonah, and what did Jonah do instead?
3. In Acts 9:3-6, what question did Saul ask Jesus after being stopped on the road, and what instruction did Jesus give him? [58:01]
4. What were some of the “little things” named that can get built into a person’s wall and make life unstable? [48:18]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says, “I never knew you,” even to people who spoke about mighty works done in His name. What does that show about the difference between religious activity and truly knowing Christ? [01:10:05]
2. Jonah received a clear word from God and still went the other way. What does that reveal about free will, and why is delayed or partial obedience still a serious matter? [46:37]
3. Saul answered Jesus with, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” What does that question reveal about a surrendered heart, especially when obedience is difficult or humbling? [59:28]
4. Bad fruit was described as an indicator light. How can attitudes like meanness, pride, harsh speech, or hidden anger reveal deeper spiritual trouble instead of being brushed off as personality? [01:11:22]

Application questions

1. Where has there been a gap between hearing God’s Word and actually doing it? Is there one area where obedience has been admired, discussed, or delayed instead of practiced? [42:40]
2. When was the last time the Holy Spirit seemed to say, “No, don’t do that,” and that warning was ignored? What happened in the heart or in the home after that? [50:56]
3. Is there a “small block” built into life right now that has been treated like no big deal—gossip, an unhealthy relationship, pride, lust, greed, dishonesty, or something hidden? What makes that one thing hard to remove? [51:50]
4. The guide with the flashlight only helps when he is followed. What helps a person stay tender to the Holy Spirit instead of arguing, excusing, or going the other direction? [52:56]
5. Is there anything that needs to be torn down instead of propped up? Would repentance in that area mean confessing something, ending something, or making something right with someone? [01:01:17]
6. Has there been a lie, a hidden compromise, or an old wrong that keeps forcing more hiding? What would it look like to end the cycle by telling the truth and bringing it fully into the light? [01:08:17]
7. Looking at 2 Peter 1:5-8, which quality seems most lacking right now—virtue, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly affection, or love? What might be one simple step this week to grow there? [01:13:55]