IN a day of lip-profession like the present, it is very important to take heed to our Lord’s words in Luke 6:46-49,46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:46‑49) “Every tree is known by his fruit.” “Why call ye me Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
An outward profession, when the heart has never submitted to God, and a calling of Christ, “Lord,” when His word has no place in the heart, is idle mockery. “Who hath required this at your hand?”... “It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting” ... “I am weary to bear them.” “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from your yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear” (Isa. 1:12-1812When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:12‑18)).
God will have reality, the conscience and heart must be affected. Conviction of sin, conversion, repentance, confession of sin, faith in Christ, all tell of the great moral change in a man that really possesses God salvation.
“O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance,” said John the Baptist to the respectable religionists of his day.
“And now, also, the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 3:7-107But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Matthew 3:7‑10)). And what fruit is that? Repentance toward God. The Son of God said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-51There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:1‑5)).
Yes, the man who builds his house so that the storm of the future will not affect it, must “dig deep.” The word must take hold of the heart and conscience; there must be the submitting to God and His righteousness; there must be the confession of one’s sins and vileness; there must be the standing in the presence of God stripped of every shred of self-righteousness; there must be the turning by faith to the Crucified One for salvation; there must be the open confession of the Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of a God-hating, Christ-despising world. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:8-108But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8‑10)).
Ah, friend, there must be reality! Has there been reality with you? Have you been with God about your sins and the judgment-day?
In Matthew 7:24,24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: (Matthew 7:24) the man that “digs deep,” and builds his house upon “a rock,” is called “a wise man.” The man who builds his salvation on his morality and outward respectability is not digging deep; that is only sand.
The man who is relying for salvation on sacramentalism is the opposite of being a wise man; he is a fool, for he is building on sand, and not upon a rock.
The man who is relying upon his promises to turn over a new leaf is building on sand; for where in the first Adam book can you find a new leaf? Though there be ten thousand leaves, they are all stained and defiled with sin. There is not a new leaf in the whole book to turn over. “Ye must be born again.”
Yes, you must dig deep. You must dig through the stratum of mere morality, the stratum of mere outward religiousness, the stratum of the figment of “sacramental grace,” the stratum of being better than your neighbor, the stratum of supposed good works, the stratum of turning over a new leaf, the stratum of noble ancestry, the stratum of law-keeping, the stratum of self-righteousness; and when you are stripped of all in which you are placing confidence, and see yourself vile, sinful, ruined and helpless, you will come to the solid rock―CHRIST.
Ah, yes; Christ, and Christ alone, is the Rock of our salvation.
This is the Rock―the strong and imperishable Rock of Ages, upon which a poor, vile sinner can build his house for eternity. “For other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1111For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)).
And mark you what the Saviour says about such a man. “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded on a rock” (Luke 6:47-4947Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:47‑49)).
My reader, are you that man? Are you building on Christ, “who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification?” that Christ of God “who suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25); 1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
Have you come to Him? Have you heard His sayings? And are you doing them?
E. A.