June 17, 2020
Wednesday PM
Luke 6:46-49 “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.”
Jesus said, if you build on the rock, when the storm comes, your house will stand. The house He is talking about there is your life, your family, everything pertaining to you. What is the rock we are to build on? We’ve always been taught that Jesus is the rock to build upon. But, do you know people who are born again and have based their life on Jesus Christ the Savior, and you’ve seen their life go down the stream? We all have. The “rock” is not just Jesus himself. We have to do his sayings. You must be a doer! What sayings are we talking about here?
- I always come out on top
- With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation
- The joy of the lord is my strength
- By his stripes I am healed
- God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear
- My God meets all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus
These are all sayings that we speak out of our mouth because we want them to work in our life! This is a great thing. Confessions create realities. You don’t possess until you confess.
It’s important that we don’t take scriptures out of context because God’s words contain images of what they are to produce. It’s easy to do. Think of it like a corn seed. Each seed contains within it what is needed for a corn stalk, leaves, and two ears of corn. If you take that seed and cut it into thirds or in half, that seed will never produce the image it was meant to. In all of Jesus’ teachings, every word was a stroke of the brush on the canvas. If you don’t start at the beginning and take all of the words in context, you will not get the entire image that He was trying to paint.
At some point in life, everyone has a “flood.” What is a flood? Sometimes it’s disease, or financial problems, or marital issues. When the floods arise, that does not mean you are a bad person. When they do arise, we want to be ready. And if we will do what Jesus says, we can overcome and go on with our lives. That’s the will and promise of God. Jesus says if you’ll HEAR and DO His sayings, then you’re guaranteed to win. An example of one of these sayings can be found in verses 27-28.
Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
Kenneth Hagin once said, “If you’ll do these two verses, you’ll make it in life.” This is a MAJOR saying, but we usually MINOR on them. You may be in a storm, you may be a long way from a storm, there may be a storm headed your way. Don’t wait until you’re in the storm to start obeying verses like this. It doesn’t just say to love your enemies, it says to do good to them. You can’t do good to them without getting involved with them. Most people will try to love their enemies from afar, but this verse is instructing us to do the opposite! That’s how you know you’ve really forgiven. You can be involved with them and do good to them. God doesn’t want you to have any negativity towards anyone in your heart. Because it will hinder your faith and your walk with God. So, we must love our enemies and do good to them. We must love them when they hate us and curse us. Even further than that we must bless and pray for them. This is way more serious than we ever considered. People die over this. Healing, God, the church, and the preacher get blamed when in all reality it’s no one’s fault but our own. Unforgiveness is deadly. It will kill you! It affects every area of your life. Your mental, emotional and physical health, your walk with God, your whole life depends on forgiveness. Sometimes people will forgive for their own benefit, but the scriptures reveal that’s not good enough! Jesus wants us to forgive for theirbenefit. When you do that you are showing them the same Love that Christ has shown us! Because when you can’t forgive, He can’t forgive you. Verse 37 says: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. When you sow seeds of unforgiveness and hold grudges with your enemies, you are sowing a seed.
Luke 6:43- 46 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
In verse 46, Jesus emphasizes that He is still on the same subject. In other words, “don’t call me Lord if you aren’t going to forgive your enemies and do good to them. Because I’m telling you to do that.” So, if you decide not to do His sayings, Jesus is saying in response to your disobedience, “That’s okay, but when your life is in a storm, don’t blame me. Blame yourself, because you bear the fruit that you sow.” Do you see the seriousness of this passage? What fruit is on your bush? This will affect the very outcome of your life. It will determine your everyday life! When the storm comes it’s easy to search for someone or something to place the blame on. But the reality is, you’re to blame. You WILL reap what is sown. This is not an easy truth to accept. But the good news is this: if you truly repent and admit your fault, you pray for forgiveness with a genuine remorse and God will wipe out the harvest, remove the seed, and the ground it was planted on! That is the mercy and goodness of God. But, it all hinges on us. All He is asking us to do, is show others that same mercy!