Every one that comes to me, and hears my words and does them, I will shew you to whom he is like.
Right before this, Jesus asked why people call Him "Lord, Lord" and do not do what He says. Verse 47 answers with three things: coming, hearing, and doing. Then He promises to show us what such a person resembles.
Matthew's account of this parable begins with hearing. Luke puts a word in front of it.
From Matthew 7:24 onward, the Lord is showing the great thing: having the right foundation, one that will bear all testing. It is true that hearing is not enough — it is "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them." In Luke it is, "Everyone who comes to me." The coming would speak of faith. You get this in Hebrews: "Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." So if there is hearing and no doing, the root of the matter is not there.
One writer presses what the title Lord commits a person to.
If we own Christ to be Lord in word, how is it that we do not do what He says? The very saying that He is Lord implies the obligation of subjection to Him... The heeding of the words of Christ is what survives every shock of the adversary. He who proves his faith in this way, by his obedience, shall never be moved nor ashamed... The heaviest blow, when the Lord returns in glory, will fall not on those who never heard, but on the baptized who heard the Gospel and did not obey it.
A person can hear Christ's words, call Him Lord, and still build nothing that will hold.
Mere profession counts for nothing. Men may repeatedly call Jesus their Lord, but if there is no obedience to His word, there is no discipleship that He acknowledges. Only obedience lays the kind of foundation that cannot be shaken under the testings. Just hearing His word, without obedience, may put up a structure that looks like the real thing. But it means disaster in the day of testing.
Verse 48 spells out what "does them" looks like: the man dug down deep. One writer weighs the cost of that digging.
A man sets to work to build a house; he first looks for a foundation. He selects the rock. That is wise, at any rate; but merely to lay the stones on the surface would be folly. So he digs! This means toil, but it is toil that pays. He digs deep! This means determination. He dreads being shallow and flimsy. He expects the flood to rise and the stream to beat, and perhaps to beat hard. So he counts every extra spadeful quarried out of the rock invaluable, and every effort that binds the rock and the house together.
The same writer names two habits that make up the digging.
The ones who dig deep are those who kneel before God in complete dependence on Him, and who search His word each day. This is the proof of building on the rock. Nor does anyone advance in divine ways who fails in these two spiritual exercises.
The digging goes down to bedrock. That bedrock is a Person.
Here the Lord approves and encourages real faith. It is faith that takes His Word to heart and responds in obedient action. The Person of the Lord Jesus means everything to that person. He digs deep, through all the mere build-up of earthly-mindedness, and reaches the bedrock. That bedrock pictures Christ as the Son of God. He wants reality and is satisfied with nothing less than the eternal Son of God to build his whole life on.
Commentators differ on what the building pictures. One reads it as the believer's walk rather than a sinner's rescue:
This is not a question of building upon Christ, the Rock, for the salvation of the sinner. It is the path of the saint... The very thing people are called on to do is to follow Him. When I follow, it proves that the Master's words have taken such hold on my soul that they can carry me over the difficulties.
Another ties the same verse to the day of judgement:
His one foundation must be the teaching of the Son of God. Without that, he has nothing at all that will help him when the storm of divine judgement arises... All who bow at His feet, owning who He is and what His sacrifice has done, have laid their foundation on the rock.
- Come — Luke alone adds coming before hearing, and coming speaks of faith; without it, hearing has no root.
- Hear — a title costs nothing. Calling Him Lord carries the obligation of subjection to Him, or it is only profession.
- Do — only obedience lays a foundation that cannot be shaken. Hearing alone can raise something that looks real and still falls.
- Dig — deep digging means searching the word daily and kneeling in dependence. Neglect these two, and you make no progress in the things of God.
- Rock — the digging reaches Christ Himself, the Son of God. Commentators differ: is this the sinner's salvation or the believer's path? Either way, the whole weight rests on Him.
He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock; but a great rain coming, the stream broke upon that house, and could not shake it, for it had been founded on the rock.
Luke ends this teaching with a builder's picture. Two men build houses. One flood comes and settles which is which. The difference is not in what they heard. It is in what lies under the house.
Matthew's version of this saying begins with hearing. Luke puts something in front of it, and one writer sees faith in that extra step.
The Lord is showing that the great thing is to have the right foundation, the kind that will bear all testing. It is true that it is not enough to hear. It is "everyone who hears these words of mine and does them." In Luke it is, "everyone who comes to me." The coming would speak of faith. You get this in Hebrews: "whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." So if there is only hearing and no doing, the root of the matter is not there... Hearing, with the doing also, means reality; and nothing but reality will do for God.
The wise man picks rock. But choosing well is not the whole job. He digs, and he digs because of what he expects to come.
A man sets to work to build a house; he first looks for a foundation. He selects the rock. That is wise, at any rate; but simply to lay the stones on the surface would be folly. So he digs! This means hard work, but work that pays. He digs deep! This means determination. He dreads anything shallow or flimsy. He expects the flood to rise and the stream to beat against it, perhaps violently. So every extra spadeful quarried out of the rock is priceless to him, and so is every effort that binds the rock and the house together. He does not begrudge the labour.
So what does digging look like in ordinary life? The same writer names two habits.
Those who know how to kneel down before God in complete dependence on Him, and who daily search His word — they are the ones who dig deep. They give proof of building on the rock. Nor does anyone make progress in divine things who fails in these two spiritual exercises.
What has to be dug through, and what lies at the bottom? One writer names both.
He digs deep, through the whole build-up of earthly-mindedness, until he reaches the bedrock. That bedrock is a picture of Christ as the Son of God. He wants reality, and nothing less than the eternal Son of God will do as the base for his whole life. Whatever floods or storms arise, he is not moved, for it is the foundation Rock that secures him.
The ESV ends the verse "because it had been well built." Older translations read "for it had been founded on the rock," and that is the wording these writers quote. Either way the point is the same: what holds the house is what lies under it.
A house without deep foundations can still look impressive. So can a person who calls Jesus Lord.
This leads to the thought that mere profession counts for nothing. Men may call Jesus their Lord again and again. But if there is no obedience to His word, there is no discipleship that He recognises. Only obedience lays the kind of foundation that cannot be shaken under testing. Hearing His word without obeying it may put up a building that looks like the real thing. But on the day of testing it means disaster.
The builder digs because he expects trouble. That trouble has names.
The floods are certain to rise, and the streams to beat. We may expect enemies of every kind to attack the truth — unbelief, immorality, imitation, persecution, trial, worldliness, even Satan himself. Nothing overcomes them except faithfulness to God and the Spirit-given use of the word.
The storm does not decide the outcome; the foundation does. One writer ties the word "Lord" to the obedience that keeps a house standing.
If we call Christ Lord with our words, why do we not do what He says? Calling Him Lord in itself means we are bound to submit to Him... Paying heed to the words of Christ is what survives every shock of the enemy. The one who proves his faith in this way, by his obedience, shall never be moved or ashamed.
- Come — Luke's added word points to faith; hearing without doing shows the root was never there.
- Dig — the real work is downward and unseen: daily searching of Scripture, and prayer that leans on God.
- Through — the spade cuts through earthly-mindedness until it strikes Christ, the Son of God.
- Build — obedience lays the foundation, not profession. A house can look real and have nothing under it.
- Stand — floods, opposition and worldliness will come. The house on the Rock holds.
And he that has heard and not done, is like a man who has built a house on the ground without [a] foundation, on which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the breach of that house was great.
Jesus ends His teaching with a picture of collapse: a man heard His words, built his life, and lost everything when the water rose. The question is not whether we hear Christ, but what we are standing on when the storm hits.
The verse belongs to a question asked a few lines earlier — why call Him Lord and not do what He says. One writer finds the answer in the title itself. To call Him Lord is to admit you owe Him obedience.
If we own Christ to be Lord in word, how come we do not do what He says? The very saying that He is Lord implies the obligation of subjection to Him... Paying attention to the words of Christ is what survives every shock of the adversary. He who proves his faith in this way by his obedience will never be moved or ashamed.
The same writer traces this back to the heart: our lips betray the state of our affections.
The failure is not that this man never listened. It is that his listening never touched who the Speaker is.
On the other hand, if one "hears" with no resulting obedience, he is building without a foundation. To him the words of the Lord Jesus are merely optional principles of a good man, not having great importance. To such a person the Lord's words do not show the truth of who the Lord Jesus is. But to separate His words from the solid, eternal truth of His person as the living Son of God leaves the hearer wide open to the storms of life. He has no place to stand at all.
A person can admire the teaching, repeat it to others, and be worse off for it. Fruitless hearing is not neutral.
Preaching morals to others, or hearing even Christ's words without any fruit, only adds to one's own condemnation. Nothing can take the place of real obedience of heart.
The same writer says where the heaviest blow will land:
The heaviest blow of the Lord returning in glory will fall, not on pagans who have never heard, but on the baptized who have heard the Gospel and not obeyed it.
Nothing in the story exposes the two builders until the water rises. Until then both houses look like houses.
This is how vividly the Lord of all describes the collapse of all the hopes of those who have not built on His words. Heaven is silent today... but a real hurricane of divine wrath will burst out before long. It will show beyond dispute where men really stand. Every unreal structure will then totter and fall. Some people have a fine moral and religious appearance. That will not shield them from judgement if they have not, as lost sinners, put their trust in the Saviour and in His precious blood.
The verse does not merely say the house fell. It says the fall was great. One writer ties that greatness to how real the man's confidence was.
Useless indeed is the profession of the lips — the saying "Lord, Lord" — unless the life confirms it. Not that the best life will justify before God, or save in the day when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. But it is still evidence that Christ is the foundation of the soul — of a house built secure against all the storms that can hit it. Faith in Christ must, of course, be real. But the more real a person's faith in other things, the more complete the delusion. The ruin waiting for him is surer and more deadly. "The ruin of that house was great."
Note the balance: obedience does not save, but it shows that Christ is the foundation underneath.
- Hearing. Both men heard the same words. Hearing was never the difference — only one man acted on what he heard.
- Foundation. Treat Christ's words as optional advice from a good man, and you cut them off from who He is. That leaves you with no place to stand.
- Building. The man without a foundation still builds. A fine moral and religious life still shelters no one when wrath breaks out.
- Storm. The flood does not create the difference; it reveals it. Every unreal structure falls the moment the water tests it.
- Ruin. The fall is great because the confidence was real. Faith placed in the wrong thing makes the delusion complete and the ruin final.